


A Great Escape

by thehylianmusicianandwriter



Category: Rick and Morty
Genre: Gen, rick's in jail goddamn, summer and morty are gonna have to save the galaxy yo
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-04-08
Updated: 2016-08-03
Packaged: 2018-06-01 00:54:14
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 16
Words: 34,310
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6494440
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thehylianmusicianandwriter/pseuds/thehylianmusicianandwriter
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Rick's in jail. That's a fact that Morty and Summer Smith think they can't change. Without their grandfather, they're stuck on Earth, surrounded by Federation goons. However, little do they know that they will become a part of something much greater than either of them realized, and all for the fate of the galaxy.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> A/N: Thank you so much for reading this first chapter! I'm really excited about this story; this will be my first time writing a longer fanfiction. I hope you enjoyed this first chapter- next one will be coming really soon! Comments are always appreciated and enjoyed!
> 
> Stay schwifty!

**Chapter** **1**

_Scratch, scratch_.

The sound of twenty or so pencils _scratching_ on paper filled the classroom, accompanied by the quiet ticking of the wall clock. Morty Smith of Earth, Dimension C-137, was sitting in Mr. Goldenfold's math class, bound to his chair by the government's law of forcing every child to remain in his or her seat until the bell gave them permission to be dismissed.

However, Morty was hardly paying attention to the questions on the test. To be honest, he didn't care one bit about the exam. It didn't matter how well he performed- the Galactic Federation would administer a certain career to him anyways after he finished high school. They would also never allow him to get off-planet, because he was the grandson of Rick Sanchez.

Morty stared down at the paper.

_2 x 23 (6+34) = ?_

He sighed, closing his eyes. Morty was the grandson of Rick Sanchez, famed intergalactic terrorist. Truthfully, Morty had no awareness of Rick's backstory and why he was considered a galactic criminal. He knew it had something to do with the Federation- Morty guessed that during his younger days, his grandfather had fought against the bureaucrats- but that was the extent of his knowledge of Rick's backstory, and even that guess seemed to be a bit of a stretch. Rick didn't come across to Morty as the type of person who would willingly fight in a group against an oppressive leadership; Rick was too selfish, too much of a lone wolf.

In reality, Morty was pissed. He was so angry at Rick for leaving them how he did, and for lying to Morty.

_"I was gonna hope over to the Gloppydrop System, get some ice cream."_

_"You…you want me to come with? I mean, don't you need my brain waves for camouflage or something?"_

_"I'll be okay. Bye, Morty."_

And with that, Rick had gone. Morty's fist tightened around his pencil. He opened his eyes, blinking back a few tears.

It had only been a few weeks since the Federation had found the Smith family all alone on that small planet, but already Earth no longer felt like home to anyone anymore. The Federation had completely taken over; at first, the many different governments of Earth had objected, tried to fight back- but the Federation was quick to silence them. Now, the governments were "representatives" of the Galactic Federation. They didn't rule the countries anymore; instead, the Federation ran the planet, with the Earth governments just maintaining order over the seven billion inhabitants of the globe.

_Brrriinnnggg!_

Everyone in the class jumped, startled by the loud bell. Almost immediately, the level of volume in the room rose as people handed in their tests and walked out with their friends, discussing their exams. Morty stood, stretching, his test in hand. He glanced down at it. Morty hadn't answered a single question out of the forty.

He handed it in to Mr. Goldenfold, quickly making his way out with the rest of the class. Thankfully, math was his last period of the day- Morty was impatient to get home and be alone. He had found himself sitting in the garage more often than not, comforted by the inventions strewn all over the garage, left in place from the last time Rick had been in there.

As Morty made his way outside, he discerned his sister waiting for him by the exit. There was Summer, leaning up against the archway, her eyes glued to her phone as she thumbed through her Facebook newsfeed.

"Hey," Morty said when he reached her.

Summer put her phone in her pocket, looking at him. She adjusted her backpack, giving him a small smile. "Hey. Ready?"

The siblings made their way out of the school and onto the sidewalk, where they began their thirty minute walk home. Morty missed the days that Rick would come barging into his classroom, taking him out of school for a day or so to go on some wacky, zany adventure.

"Hel-lo, doofus, did you hear a word I just said?" Summer waved her hand in front of her brother, breaking him out of his short entrancement.

"H-huh?" Morty blinked and looked over at Summer. Her green eyes seemed jaded as she looked back at him, one eyebrow cocked. "Oh, s-sorry Summer. What'd you ask?"

"I asked you how your math exam went. Because, like, you know the Federation will assign us a certain job based on that." She rolled her eyes. "My exam was pretty lame, but I think I got a good enough score to be able to get off-world next year. Of course, you won't have the exam I just took until you're a senior, so-"

Morty interrupted her. "Summer, y-you know they won't let you off-world, right? They won't let us. Either of us."

Summer stared at her brother in incredulity. "What-"

"Because Rick's our grandpa!" Morty said hotly. He clenched his fist. "They would n-n-never let Rick's grandkids leave Earth. They might think we know too much."

Summer's jaw tightened. "Which we do." She said in a lowered voice. The realization hit her- she would never leave Earth ever again. The times she had spent in the cosmos with her brother and grandfather had been her last. The beauty of seeing the universe all around her, stars lighting up the cosmos like little fireflies, the gracefulness of the planets as they orbited around one another-

It was all over.

She would never again see any other planets. Never again would she have Rick pointing out constellations and other star systems to her or her brother.

"Shit," she said quietly.

Morty looked at Summer. "Yeah." He looked away. "I had the same feeling. We'll never see the universe again. Now we're just stuck here, for the rest of our lives."

Summer felt her cheeks grow hot. "I can't believe he did that to us. I can't believe he left us!" Summer cried out, anger filling her up. "Why did he leave us to live out our lives in such a shitty way?!"

Her brother shrugged, trying to not think about it. Isn't that what Rick always said?

Morty glanced upward before stopping in his tracks. His eyes grew wide as he realized what he was looking at, his heart clenching tight in his chest. There, up on an electric news billboard, was the haggard face of his grandfather.

"S-Summer-"

"I just can't believe that dick left us like that! That selfish bastard-"

"Summer!" Morty tugged his sister's arm, pulling her back to him.

She spun around, seeing Morty stopped. Her face was contorted in anger. "Ugh, _what_ , Morty?"

Morty didn't say anything. Instead, he pointed up to the news billboard. Summer followed his gaze. Her eyes met the worn, fatigued eyes of Rick. Summer felt her heart sink.

On the billboard was Rick's mugshot, staring at the camera, holding a card that read "RICK SANCHEZ, 00-8923-137". Next to his face was a small blurb, reprinted in multiple alien languages:

_"The Galactic Federation is pleased to announce the capture and incarceration of the known galactic terrorist Rick Sanchez. Citizens, you may now rest assured knowing that this infamous criminal is imprisoned, where he can no longer threaten the safety of you or your family. The Federation hopes that you have a fantastic day here on Earth!"_

Morty and Summer both gaped.

"He…he was captured?" Morty said in disbelief. "N-no, there's no way…Rick's too smart! H-he wouldn't go get himself caught on accident!" he turned to his sister. "W-would he?"

Summer pulled out her phone and snapped a picture of the billboard. She wanted it for future reference, and to show her mother. Summer thought it might help ease the pain a little bit. She slipped her phone back into her pocket. "Well, without his portal gun or ship he could have been…" she thought for a moment, lips pursed. "No, but even then, Rick wouldn't let himself get captured." She exhaled through her nose, eyebrows kneaded together in concentration. She looked down the street, watching the aliens and humans who meandered. She looked back at her brother, a serious tone in her voice. "Unless he gave himself up."

Morty looked at her, bewildered. " _What?!_ " He almost barked out a laugh. "Are you kidding me? T-t-t-there's no way Rick would have given himself up to the Federation! He hates them!"

"Morty, use your brain! How do you think the Federation police found us on that small planet?" Everything was beginning to make sense to Summer now. The gears turned quickly in her mind as she realized how huge of a sacrifice Rick had made for them. "Grandpa Rick…he…he must have told them where he was in exchange for our safety."

Morty stared at his sister in disbelief. "Rick's a selfish asshole, there's no way he-"

"You idiot! _Think_! Grandpa Rick's an asshole, but he saw that there was no other option, if we ever wanted to get back home to Earth." Summer sighed and looked back up at the billboard, her eyes tracing her grandfather. "He sacrificed himself for us."

Morty knew his sister was right. He knew it, he knew it, he knew it. The more he thought about it, the more it made sense. That's how the Federation was able to find them. That's why the Federation didn't question them on Rick's location, even though they knew of Rick's relation to them. Yet, he could hardly believe it.

"Summer…"

"C'mon Morty, let's go home." She gently touched his wrist and strode forward. Morty obediently followed behind.

The rest of the twenty minute walk home from their school was spent in silence. Morty was thankful when they finally reached their home. He was keen to go up in his room and be alone.

However, they were greeted by a large, alien van in front of their house, the garage opened, and their mother on the front yard screaming obscenities at two Gromflomites who were holding large boxes and inventions.

 _Rick's_ inventions, Morty noted in alarm.

"You can't do this, you can't do this! This isn't your stuff! That's my dad's! You can't do this!" Beth pleaded, screaming. She had clearly just gotten home from work- she stood there in her green scrubs, her hair pulled back into a loose ponytail.

One of the Gromflomites raised a laser gun at her, his other hand holding the interdimensional cable box. "Hey, lady- watch it- you better calm down right now!"

Summer darter to their mother. "Mom!" She grabbed her hand, pulling Beth towards her. Summer embraced her crying mother, glaring at the Gromflomite over Beth's shoulder. She didn't say anything. Morty stood beside them, internally panicking. Where were they taking Rick's inventions?

"Yeah, that's what I thought." The Gromflomite lowered his gun and shifted the interdimensional cable box in his arm. "This stuff ain't the terrorist's any longer, and it was never yours to begin with. It's now property of the Federation." He tossed the box into the Federation van, a distinct shattering of glass reverberating out.

Morty stood in horror as the Federation took the last of his grandfather away from him. He watched them load up the van, filling it with all of Rick's inventions that he had made with Morty over the past two years. He couldn't believe it. His sister and mother stood beside him, all three of them quietly crying.

The other Gromflomite tossed the Meeseeks box into the van. "Whelp, I think that's the last of it," he said, wiping his insect-like hands together. The Gromflomites loaded themselves into the Federation vehicle and drove off without saying another word to the teary-eyed family.

Morty took a step towards the garage, surveying it with a sunken heart. Everything was gone. The garage was as empty as one of Rick's beer bottles. Morty shuttered, a sob caught in his throat. Everything that him and his grandfather had worked on together was gone. Every invention, every project, every misconstrued development-

It was all gone.

Morty collapsed onto his knees in the grass, more tears forming in his eyes. He felt like his world was crashing down all around him; everything that documented the adventures that he and Rick had had over the past two years had just been ripped away from him.

It was all over.


	2. Chapter 2

Morty lay alone in his bedroom, staring up at the ceiling. The hot anger that had filled Morty had finally drained out of him; now, he only felt a heaviness in his heart. Everything had been ripped away from him so quickly and easily; he found it hard to comprehend exactly how simple it was for the Federation to just remove almost every trace of his grandfather out of his life.

_Almost_ every trace.

 Morty sat up suddenly as a remembrance occurred to him. _The galaxy hologram._

He leaped off his bed, making his way over to his desk before he yanked open a drawer. The drawer was a complete mess; uncompleted homework assignments, notes, chip bags, and other random items littered it. Morty pushed aside the random debris as he rummaged through the drawer. _Aha._ His fingers grasped a cool, spherical structure. He pulled it out, bringing it up to eye level. It was a clear orb.

 Morty reached over to the light switch and flicked it off. On one side of the sphere was a red button; Morty pushed it. Immediately, a hologram of the Milky Way galaxy filled his room. Stars, systems, and planets lit up his walls and ceiling, rotating in real time around the black hole in the center of the galaxy. Morty admired the hologram, taking in the beauty of the cosmos. He and Rick had been to many of these systems over the past two years; Morty could point each of them out. He noticed a little red dot, which signified Earth’s location in the galaxy.

Rick had created and given Morty this hologram for his fifteenth birthday.

" _Here, you little turd. Happy one-year-closer-to-death.” His grandfather tossed the plain, unwrapped box to him._

_Morty’s clumsy hands missed it, sending the box crashing to the ground. “Oh, jeez.” Morty said, picking it up apologetically._

_Rick rolled his eyes, annoyed. “Ugh, Morty, y-y-you’re going to break it.” He took a sip out of his flask and turned back to his workbench to fiddle with some invention, pretending to pay little attention to his grandson as he opened the box._

_Morty pulled out a clear sphere. “Whoa, Rick…w-wait…what is it?” Morty said, inspecting the gift with curiosity._

_“Goddammit Morty, don’t you know how to work a button? W-what is this, preschool? Use your eyes, ding-a-ling.”_

_“Oh.” Morty’s fingers found the red button on the side, and pressed down. Immediately, a hologram of the galaxy filled the garage._

_Morty looked around in amazement. “Whoa, Rick- this is incredible! You built this?” He asked, admiring the many systems in the holographic galaxy._

_“No shit, Morty. What, did you think I was gonna go a-a-and buy one of these from some cheapskate Bloopynoof? No, I made it.” Rick glanced upwards. “Oh, and that red dot- that’s E-EUGH-arth. So there ya go.”_

Morty reminisced in the memory. Rick was an asshole, sure- but a part of Morty knew that his grandfather did care about him. At the very least, 1/64th of Rick cared. After all, Morty was aware of the fact that Rick had saved Morty by sacrificing himself during the time fracture, over a year ago.

The fourteen year old teenager sighed, his heart clenching. _Rick sacrificed himself for us…again._

A sudden rapping on his door startled Morty. “C-come in!” He called to the knocker as he hurried to turn off the holographic galaxy.

Summer leaned her head in right before the hologram disappeared, seeing Morty sitting in the dark all alone. “Uh, well, this isn’t creepy of you at all. Just Morty, sitting in the dark!” Summer said sarcastically before flicking on the light. She cocked an eyebrow at her brother.

Morty felt heat rising to his face, the spherical hologram in hand. “What do you want, Summer?”

His sister glanced down at the orb. “What’s that?” She probed.

“Oh, uh…” Morty looked down, turning the orb in his hands. “I-I-It’s just something that Rick gave me. I was just looking at it, you know, thinking.”

Summer looked from the sphere back to Morty. A softer expression overcame her face. “Mom says dinner’s ready.” Summer tucked her head out of Morty’s room, gently clicking his door closed.

Morty let out a breath he didn’t know he had been holding. Besides Beth, Rick’s absence was still the rawest and hardest for Morty.

_“I can handle it if you go, but if you leave, you’ll break Mom’s heart, and I won’t forgive you for that.”_

Morty looked down at the orb, those words still bitter in his mouth. For Morty, not only would he not forgive Rick for leaving his mother, but he wouldn’t forgive Rick for leaving him, either.               

 !

The next few weeks passed by as uneventful as the next. The family found themselves in some sort of Groundhog Day-esque life; each morning, eat breakfast together like they were a normal, wholesome family, then go off to school or work and keep mentally busy, then come home and pretend to be ordinary before eating dinner and going to bed. Rinse, lather, repeat.

The weekends weren’t exactly bliss for anyone, but at least they didn’t have to be sitting in pointless classes for eight hours. On this particular Saturday morning, the family once again found themselves sitting together for breakfast, silently poking at the pancakes Beth had cooked.

_Flying saucer-shaped,_ Morty bitterly thought.

 “I picked up the paper and the mail,” Jerry said cheerfully, coming in through the front door in his striped pajamas and slippers. He waved the mentioned papers in one hand as he closed the door behind him. He sat down at the head of the table, setting down the envelopes. “Now, let’s see…” he began, rifling through. “Bill, bill, bill, bill…oh, here’s the lamp catalogue! I’ve been wondering when they’re were going to send out a new one…bill, bill…oh, here’s one for you, Summer!”

 Jerry tossed the envelope over to his daughter. Summer stared at it, terror plastered on her face.

“Summer? Are you okay, sweetie?” Beth questioned, looking at her daughter.

Summer didn’t say anything, not acknowledging her mother. Instead, she just stared in fear at the envelope, as if it was going to jump up and bite her.

Morty had a feeling that he knew what the envelope was. He reached across the table and snatched it away from his sister. He read the front. It was addressed from the school district, with a large Federation stamp below the return address.

 “C-can I open it?” Morty inquired to Summer. She nodded, almost imperceptibly.

 Morty hesitated, looking between his sister and the envelope, before slipping his finger underneath the lip and tearing it open. He pulled out a folded piece of paper, and opened it up. He began reading out loud, his eyes moving slowly across the paper.

“Dear Summer Smith and family,

We would like to inform you and your familial relations that you have received the highest possible marks on the nationwide _Space Travel, Spaceships, and other Planetary Systems_ Exam you had taken on Thursday, March 1 with a score of 900/900. Please accept our sincerest congratulations.”

 Summer exhaled, a smile spreading across her face. Beth grinned at her, patting her on the arm. Morty looked up. “Wait, there’s more.” He continued reading.

                “However, we regret to inform you that, though a 630/900 was the minimum score required to be allowed interstellar travel, due to special circumstances, we at the Galactic Federation do not give you permission to travel off-world.

Have a lovely day. Yours truly,

The Education Department of the Galactic Federation.”

Morty finished. He looked up from the paper at his sister, eyes wide in concern.

Summer clenched her jaw, her eyebrows kneaded in concentration, her eyes alight with an angry fire.

“Summer…” Beth began, but Summer cut her off abruptly.

 “No, it’s fine. It’s _fine,_ ” she grimaced through clenched teeth. “Whatever. It’s like, whatever. I’ll be up in my room.” Summer stood up suddenly, color returning to her cheeks. Without a second glance at her family, she kicked her chair out from under her and marched up the stairs. A door slammed.

The remaining family members looked away from each other, an awkward silence falling  between them. Morty felt a sickening feeling in the pit of his stomach. He threw the paper down on the table, exhaling. “I...I should go up there.” Morty pulled his chair out from under him and followed Summer up the stairs.

He approached her door, holding his knuckles up to it. He hesitated. Did he really want to bother his sister? He knew what she was like when she was angry.

He rapt on her door three times, pushing through his anxiety. Even though his sister was a pain in his ass, he did care about her. Morty knew that this news would be a huge blow for Summer.

“Go away, Morty!” Came Summer’s tear-filled yet harsh voice.

 “S-Summer…”

“I said go away!” _Bang!_ Morty winced. A shoe had clearly just hit the other side of the door. Morty took a deep breath and turned the handle, opening the door. Summer was sitting on her pink bed, head in her hands. She turned around on hearing him enter. Her face was tear-stained.

“Morty you fucking idiot- I said leave me alone!”

Morty didn’t say anything. Instead, he made his way over to Summer and sat down beside her, the bed sinking slightly under both their weight. Hesitating slightly, he put a hand over his sister’s, hoping it was a comforting gesture.

Summer wiped her tears away with the back of her free hand. She stared out through the window. “Goddammit, Morty. You were right, a few weeks ago. They won’t ever let us into space. Fuck the Federation!” She spat. “I hate this! It’s not fucking fair!”

“I-I know, Summer…” Morty followed her gaze out the window, recognizing the two mounds of dirt that had been grown over by grass. “I mean, it’s not like me or you have Rick’s brains. The Federation can’t possibly think that we would know how to build a spaceship, or something. I-I-I mean, we’re his grandkids, but we aren’t him.”

Summer looked up suddenly, her eyes wide in realization. “The ship…the spaceship! Morty!” She said, shooting up, looking at him. “Morty, my pink spaceship! The Feds didn’t take it, because they didn’t know it was ours! I parked it across the street a while ago because Dad didn’t want to get any water stains on it while he washed his car! Oh my God,” She gasped.

Morty stood up. He knew exactly what his sister was thinking, and he didn’t like it.  “Summer…” he said apprehensively. “Y-y-y-you can’t!”

“Oh hell yes I can,” Summer stated, grabbing her duffle from underneath her bed. She walked throughout her room, stuffing clothes and other personal items into it. “And I’m going to. I’m going to get off-world.” She grabbed her keys off of her vanity. “You coming or what?” Summer stared at her brother, an eyebrow cocked.

“Ugh, Summer- no, you can’t leave!”

“Fine, whatever, you little turd.” She turned to leave, opening her door. “Oh, but if you tell Mom and Dad where I’m at, I’ll personally come kill you. And,” she began, “I’ll tell them about your stash of _Victoria’s Secret_ magazines.” She grinned.

Morty let out a shrill shriek of anger, his cheeks burning. “Summer!” He stormed after his sister as she made her way down the stairs.

“Morty? Summer? Where are you two going?” Beth inquired, seeing her children rushing to get to the front door, a duffle bag slung over Summer’s shoulder.

“Uhh...” Morty began, looking uncertainly at his sister.

Summer rolled her eyes. “We’re going over to my friend’s house. She’s having trouble with some homework and she has a little brother who’s friends with Morty, so, like, they’re gonna hang out while I help my friend.” Summer stated convincingly.

Morty knew his sister was a quality liar, but even this level of lying surprised him.

“Oh, well…okay. Have fun!” Beth waved at them as they left through the front door, giving their mother a hasty goodbye.

Summer marched across the street, Morty towing behind her. She pulled out her keys, beeping the pink spaceship.

“Summer, do you even _know_ w-w-w-what’ll happen if you get caught?!” Morty stammered. He could hardly believe what his sister was doing.

 Summer rolled her eyes as she got into the driver’s side. “Uh, yeah. But they won’t catch me. Now are you coming or are you just going to stand there like an idiot?”

Morty groaned. He didn’t want to leave Earth- well, actually, yes he did- but he didn’t want to leave Earth _this_ way. He didn’t want to get in any trouble with the Federation. However, he found himself sitting in the passenger seat beside his sister, trying in vain to talk her out of it. “Summer, you can’t do this!”

“Too bad Morty- I already am.” Summer jammed the keys into the ignition, hearing the warp engine turn over and sputter to life. The ship rose a few feet off the ground, waiting to be directed. Summer put her hands on the steering wheel and narrowed her eyes, angry flames dancing in them. “Let’s roll.”

Morty let out a moan of indignation. “Oh, jeez.”

!

Summer was surprisingly good at navigating a ship. “How do you think I got full marks on that exam?” Summer said to her brother, who had complimented her driving skills. “Grandpa Rick taught me, like, everything there is to know about space. Plus, that exam’s questions were really lame. Like,” she continued as they left Earth’s atmosphere. Morty noticed two small Federation ships on the far side of the globe, but saw that they weren’t meant for racing after off-world space ships. No, they were just outposts. “One of the questions asked for the equation for the speed of light, and another one asked for the type of engine that can make jumps to hyperspace. Ugh,” Summer rolled her eyes. “And the questions were multiple choice. It wasn’t even that hard.” She said, bitter.

Morty didn’t say anything as they ventured further away from their home planet. Instead, he looked out his window, enjoying the view of the vast stars around them. This was a view he was certain he would never get to have the privilege of experiencing ever again.

Summer put the ship into hyper-drive and traveled for a few thousand light years through the galaxy. Though the pink spaceship was not as fast as Rick’s, it still got them farther in only a few hours. They blew past system after system, the stars seeming to race behind them as they moved. They traveled a bit further until they found themselves in front of a couple of Federation ships. Morty’s intestines twisted in his stomach.

He pressed a couple buttons on the ship’s dashboard. “Uh, ship? W-what system are we in right now?”

The ship responded with a monotone computer voice. “You are currently located in the Beta-78 System.”

“H-hey, Summer?” Morty indicated to the two Federation ships. “You-”

“Yeah, Morty, I see them.” Summer’s grip tightened on the steering wheel, her knuckles whitening. Her jaw clenched.

The Federation ships clearly saw the pink spaceship; they flew forward, and began speaking into the intercom, whose signal was picked up on Summer and Morty’s radio.

The radio frizzled. “ _Zzrrt._ State your name, planetary number, and reason for presence at this location. _Zzrrt._ ”

“Uhh…” Summer said, looking at Morty, panick rising in both of them.

“No time! GO!” Morty said, reaching over and slamming forward on the steering wheel. The ship lurched backward before zooming forward past the Federation ships.

 “Hey!” The Federation ships flew after the pink spaceship, chasing them down. “Red alert!” ordered one of the Gromflomites. They began firing their lasers at the siblings. “C’mon, get a picture of the assailants!” Using a special lens on the side of the ship, the Federation goons managed to snap a picture of Summer and Morty screaming in the pink spaceship. 

“Aaaahhh!!!” screamed Morty and Summer together. Summer swerved up and down, back and forth, trying to avoid the lasers. Morty’s heart beat fast in his chest as he screamed.

_BAM!_

“Dammit! We’ve been hit!” yelled Summer. “We’re going down!”

Below them, pulling them into its gravitational field, was a small red and yellow planet that was, all too quickly, getting closer and closer.

They screamed for their lives, as they fell down, down, down, closer and closer to the planet.

_CRASH!_

Everything was suddenly dark.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

_The derivative of y=2x_ _ (1/2-e) _ _?_

… _Easy. y’=(1-2e)x_ _(-1/2-e)_ _._

_How about the integral of (lnx)_ _2 dx?  _

_Once again, easy. x(ln x)_ _2 − 2x ln x + 2x + C. _

_What about…._

Rick Sanchez of dimension C-137 volleyed simple math problems at himself while trying to keep mentally busy as he hung, tired and sober, in the Galactic Federation’s Maximum Security Prison. Just because he felt like his body was wasting away didn’t mean he was going to allow his mind to as well.

Rick had given himself up to the Feds only three weeks ago, and for every day Rick hung, chained to his cell wall, not a single living organism had come to see him. No, no one but the robots who delivered his daily nutrients and water intravenously. He had attempted to make conversation with his fellow prisoners, who were chained to their own cells beside him, but he quickly learned that extended conversation was not well-tolerated by the Federation.

So instead, Rick completed math problems in his head, in an attempt to stay sane.

The lack of alcohol was getting to Rick. Going cold turkey on booze was affecting him, worse than he had imagined it would be. The headaches and migraines were terrible. The first week had been the worst. Now, his body just felt tired, more tired than he ever had before. He ardently remembered his last shot of whiskey before being arrested; it had burned in the best way going down his throat.

Rick exhaled through his nose, closing his eyes. He hated being sober; he hated being stuck inside his own mind. Sure, he was considered one of the most intelligent organisms in the galaxy, if not _the_ most intelligent- but with intelligence came a lot of scary and annoying thoughts that Rick did not like to be left alone with.

A hovering robot zoomed up to him, breaking Rick out of his trance. _Must be time for my daily nutrients from the government. Great._

However, instead of pulling out a needle, the robot used its arms to grab hold of Rick’s cell wall. It swiftly detached it and picked it up, Rick moving slightly from the sudden movement.

_This is different._ Rick thought to himself. _Probably going to torture me for information. Go figure._

The robot holding Rick zoomed out of the room. They flew around for a few minutes, the android navigating the hallways with reasonable precision, until it stopped suddenly outside a large door.

The door slid open, allowing the android and Rick access, before it closed suddenly behind them. Rick found himself inside of a medium-sized room; the walls were silver, and seemed to be made out of some type of super-strong magnesium. A blank television sat in one corner. There was only the single door Rick had entered through as any entry or exit; in the room itself was a single chair. A figure- no, a female humanoid- stood against the opposite wall.

The robot set Rick’s wall down. “R-471, you may release the prisoner.” The lady lazily ordered to the android. It obeyed, inserting one of its arms into the hole on the side of Rick’s wall. He was immediately released, falling down onto the floor, gray hair falling in his face. His body felt like jelly. This was the first time in three weeks that he had been out of the bindings.

“Leave us,” the woman commanded the robot. “Stand, prisoner C-137.”

Rick grunted, putting his arms underneath him as he weakly pushed himself up. “Calm your tits, lady.” He managed to get up onto his knees before standing erect, knees slightly wobbly. He grabbed the chair with one hand, steadying himself. “Can’t you give a-a-an old man a break?” His voice sounded pathetic; he hadn’t spoken in a while. 

The alien woman took a step forward, staring at him through spectacles with a bored expression on her face. She had bluish skin and purple eyes.  “Sit, C-137.”

A thousand thoughts and scenarios flew through Rick’s mind all at once, in a matter of seconds. He considered his options. One: he could obey the woman and in extent obey the bureaucrats by sitting in the chair. _Fuck that._ Two: he could throw the chair at her and try to make an escape. _No, I can’t fucking run fast enough._ Three: he could throw the chair at her and hold her hostage until they agree to release him.  _What the fuck kind of thought is that? They won’t release me in exchange for her._ Or at least give him some booze. _Now there’s an idea._

Rick grit his teeth, plopping himself down in the chair. He sat, legs spread slightly, one arm lounging over the back of the seat. He stared at her, one eyebrow raised. “S-s-so what? Are you gonna torture me for information? Cut off my dick? Give you the blueprints for my inventions? Oh wait, wait, wait, I know- you’re gonna demand that I tell you where I hid the treasure map, right?” Rick said, sarcastic.

“Oh no, I’m not going to ask you for a single piece of information. Though I know your mind contains most of the galaxy’s secrets, many of which would be extremely valuable to the Galactic Federation, I am not going to ask you for a single drop of information out of the vast bucket that is your mind. No, instead,” she glanced behind Rick as two Gromflomites suddenly emerged from the shadows and grabbed each of his arms, holding him down, “you are going to simply show us your secrets.” The woman pulled a syringe out of the inside of her coat, taking a few steps towards Rick.

“Hey fuck you, lady!” Rick spat, struggling slightly against the Gromflomites’ hold on him. No _way_ was he going to allow this Federation bitch to give him some type of drug.  The woman grabbed his wrist, twisting it around. She plunged the syringe into his vein, and, very suddenly, everything went black.

!

“Grandpa Rick, do you think- oh my God hold on! This is my favorite song!” Summer reached forward, turning up the spaceship’s radio. She began dancing and singing along to the song. “C’mon, Morty!”

Morty, sitting in the back, began dancing and singing along with his sister. “Haha, yeah!”

Rick groaned. “Is _this_ wh-urp-at you kids listen to these days? Jesus, this is nothing but shit! Wh-what kind of people actually listen to this crap?”

“Uh, cool people, Grandpa. Unlike you,” Summer noted, continuing to dance.

Rick barked out a patronizing laugh. “Then you and I have v-eurp-ery different definitions of that word, Summer.” He rolled his eyes, taking a sip out of his flask as he drove, the ship swerving slightly in space. His grandchildren continued to laugh and dance to this terrible song; yet, Rick didn’t turn off the radio. Instead, he lazily observed the stars and planets that flew past them, with no particular destination in mind, and a slight smile on his face.

It had been a long time since he had felt like this.

!

“Fuck!”

Rick’s eyes snapped open, beads of sweat on his brow, breathing heavily as he tried to gain control over himself. His eyes darted around the room, remembrance flooding back to him immediately. No, he wasn’t in the ship with his grandchildren; he was in the Federation’s high-security prison, dressed in an orange jumpsuit, stuck in a bland room with a Federation bitch and two Gromflomites holding his arms down.

“ _You,”_ Rick snarled at the woman, catching his breath. He looked her in her stupid purple eyes, anger heating his face. “What the _fuck_ was that? You don’t have any right to see my shit!”

“You have no rights here, Mr. Sanchez.” She reminded him. She turned around to the television up in the corner, where scenes of Rick’s memory were being replayed. Rick saw, clear as day, Summer and Morty in his ship, just as he had seen in his memory. “Your grandchildren, I presume?”

The lines in Rick’s face tightened slightly.

“Hmm, yes. I find it fascinating how much you seem to care about them. You have quite an interesting relationship with your daughter’s children. Especially with your grandson- Morty, is his name?” She turned back to Rick. “I wonder why that is?”

“Fuck you,” Rick spat.

“Could it possibly have something to do with the fact that your grandson has _compatible brainwaves_ with your own? And you use—used—” she corrected herself, smirking, “his brainwaves to hide from the Federation?”

Rick laughed, though a small part of his chest tightened. “No shit, Sherlock. What, did you really think I-I-I _wanted_ to be caught? I’m an _intergalactic terrorist,_ remember? Of course I was going to use his brainwaves to hide from you pissants.”

The woman cocked an eyebrow. She looked at the Gromflomites holding Rick. “Take him back to his cell position.”

The Gromflomites grunted out an acknowledgement, and immediately picked Rick up, pushing him up against his portable cell wall. The metal constraints immediately tightened around his wrists and ankles. The robot came back into the room, picking up Rick’s cell wall.

Rick locked eyes with the woman as the robot zoomed backwards out of the room. In his constraints, he flicked her the middle finger as the door slid closed.

 “Peace among worlds, bitch.”     


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

Morty gasped.

Coughing, struggling to catch his breath, Morty weakly opened his eyes. At first, he saw nothing but a bright, blinding light.

_Am I dead?_

Morty picked his head up and looked beneath him. No, he wasn’t dead; he was lying on red sand. He closed his eyes again, dropping his head back onto the sand, moaning slightly. His body felt as if Mike Tyson had punched him five hundred times.

_Summer._

Morty’s eyes flashed open, everything coming back to him at once. The Federation ships, the planet, his sister, the crash…

With a determined grunt, Morty pushed himself off of the ground, the world righting itself around him as he stood, slightly wobbly, on his two feet.

_Where’s Summer? Where’s the ship?_

Morty checked himself over, making sure he had no serious injuries. A couple bruises here and there, but he seemed to be okay. Bruises he could handle. His sister being dead he could not. He knew he needed to find Summer.

He turned around, eyes scanning for the ship or his sister. There, about a hundred feet behind him, was the pink spaceship. He had clearly been thrown from it. He quietly thanked a God he didn’t believe in; he could have been much worse off.

_But what about Summer?_

Morty stumbled towards it, going as fast as his aching body would allow him to. He stopped before it, his heart sinking.

The ship was completely mangled. The formerly pink spaceship was now black and brown, smoke rising from its devices. The warp engine was utterly fried, biofluid leaking a thin green trail over the red sand. The windshield was completely smashed and shattered, a clear indication of where Morty had gotten thrown out of. One wing was tossed a hundred feet away, with other parts of the ship scattered around the red sand. Morty swore silently to himself, fear gripping his heart; he didn’t want to look inside the seats. What was he going to find? Was he going to find his sister, mangled and dead inside? Would he find blood? Morty didn’t want to think about it, he didn’t want to look- but he knew he had to.

He gulped, trying to mentally steel himself against what he may see. Morty stepped closer and looked into the seats of the ship.

Nothing.

Morty let out a deep breath he didn’t know he had been holding. Summer wasn’t _definitely_ dead; maybe she was flung from the ship like he was? Yes, that had to be it.

Morty turned around, his eyes searching for his sister. There seemed to be nothing around him but the red sand hills and the bluish, purplish sky above.  

His heart clenched, panic rising in his throat. “Summer!” He yelled. He called her name again. Nothing.

Frustrated and scared, Morty hiked a few paces away from the crash site. He peered down one of the sand valleys, eyes scanning the hills—there!

His sister lay at the bottom of the trench, motionless.

Morty’s heart leaped and tightened at once. He teared down the hill, ignoring his body’s protests, falling to his knees beside his sister. He watched her chest, eyes wide in fear.

It rose and fell. She was breathing, but unconscious.

However, there was a fair amount of blood underneath her left leg; her white pants were sliced, her calf cut open underneath.

Morty grabbed his sister by the shoulders and lightly shook her. “Summer! Summer, y-y-y-you gotta…you need to wake up! Summer!”

Much to Morty’s relief, Summer groaned, clenching her eyes tighter. “ _Ugh…_ Morty…?” She opened her eyes, blinking blearily. “What…happened?”

He sat back on his heels. “Th-th-the ship, we crashed-”

“Ow, shit!” Summer hissed, grabbing her sliced calf. She pulled her hand back, sticky blood covering her palm. “Goddammit! Here, Morty- help me up.”

Morty wrapped one arm under his sister and helped her stand as she leaned on him, favoring her good leg. They slowly made their way back up the hill to the ship, Summer wincing and limping along the way as their feet slipped and slid in the sand.

“Morty, are you okay?” Summer asked, looking at her younger brother with genuine concern. 

“In better shape than you, that’s for, for sure.”

The siblings finally overcame the top of the hill, the pink ship still sitting mangled in front of them.

Morty felt Summer let out a breath as she leaned more into him. “Shit.”

The two of them moved closer until they were standing right in front of it. “My ship’s completely ruined. Shit!” Summer huffed, grabbing her injured calf.

“H-here, Summer, sit down.” Morty helped lower his sister onto the ground. She removed her arm from around his neck and grabbed her bleeding leg, staring at the ship with frustration in her eyes.    “The fucking Federation blew us out of the sky!” She looked upwards into the purplish atmosphere above them, eyes searching. “I hope they think we’re dead, otherwise,” she looked seriously at her brother. “They’ll come down here and we _will_ be dead.”

“Yeah well, we’re going to die anyways if we don’t figure out what to do! Oh, _jeez!_ Now we’re stuck on-on-on this sand planet, with a-a-a-a completely _ruined_ ship! How are we going to get off this planet?! We’re gonna die here!” Morty felt his panic rising. This had never happened with Rick when they had traveled; Rick always knew what to do and how to handle it.

But Rick wasn’t here.

Summer pinched the bridge of her nose and sighed. “Ugh, _Morty!_ Will you shut up for once in your life, you turd? Let me think!”

Morty twisted his hands together in nervousness and sat down beside her. Neither of them were super geniuses like their grandfather; they couldn’t just quickly fix the ship and keep going. Neither of them had portal guns, either, so they couldn’t just portal home. Morty knew it- they were going to die here, on this planet.

All because Summer couldn’t stand to not be able to get off-world.

Morty felt a twitch of anger at his sister, but he didn’t say anything.  

“Okay, I have a plan.” Summer turned to her brother. “How about we go for a walk? There were Federation ships outside this planet’s atmosphere; there’s gotta be some kind of civilization here somewhere.” She started to stand up, putting most of her weight on her good leg. The blood had completely seeped through her white pantleg.

Morty bolted up, gently grabbing Summer’s elbow. “Summer, your leg-”

She waved him off. “I’ll be fine. Civilization can’t be that far.”

!

The two siblings walked for what seemed like hours. They stumbled along, Morty half dragging Summer with her injured leg. The sun was beginning to set; the two moons of the planet were rising.

Both of the kids were tired, hungry, and thirsty, and Summer could feel that her calf was beginning to fester.

It was getting dark quickly. The darkness of the sky was beginning to blend with the red sand dunes; Morty was having trouble telling where the horizon was. Another fear dawned on Morty; though they hadn’t seen any signs of life yet, what if this planet had nocturnal creatures? What if this planet had nocturnal creatures that would eat them? If there was one thing that Morty learned on his adventures with Rick, it was to never underestimate an organism’s appetite for, well, anything.

“Wait, Morty- what’s that?” Summer narrowed her eyes; out in the distance seemed to be dancing lights.

“I-I-I think it’s civilization!” Morty said, relief flooding into him. Both him and Summer suddenly felt a new determination fill each of them up; now, they had some sort of destination in mind.

The temperature dropped quickly as they stumbled their way to the light source. It grew brighter and brighter as they neared it, and they realized that the lights were coming from a small settlement.

The settlement had about twenty dome-shaped tents, with lights on the inside and outside. Organisms were moving about; however, Morty and Summer weren’t close enough to tell what exactly they looked like.

“Wait, Summer-” Morty said in a hushed voice. “We shouldn’t just go b-b-barging into their campsite. We don’t even know what species this is; what if they try and eat us?”

Summer rolled her eyes. “Morty, there are Federation ships posted in this planet’s gravitational field. I highly doubt anyone’s going to eat us.”

“All the more reason to be cautious about this!” Morty protested.

Summer glared at her brother incredulously. “Look, we are stuck on this dumb planet with no ship, and I’m injured. I’ll take my chances with these things.” She pulled Morty forward as she limped.

“Oh jeez,” Morty muttered as he helped her walk. 

The siblings made their way into the center of the settlement, looking for some sign of help. The alien creatures around them paid little attention to them; the organisms were humanoid, lizard-like bipedal creatures with green skin and bulging muscles.

Morty saw a bunch of these alien creatures going in and out of one tent; music and alcoholic drinks in hands were coming out. “Summer, I think th-th-that might be a tavern, or-or-or something,” he said.

Summer nodded, agreeing. “Let’s try and at least get some water. I’m dying to sit down.”

With her arm still around Morty’s neck for support, the two made their way to the tavern. Morty pushed open the curtain door. Inside, there were many lizard-like aliens sitting at a bar and on couches, listening to strange music coming from an unknown source. At the bar, creatures were being served drinks in shallow bowls. No one even glanced at Summer or Morty.

Morty and Summer hesitantly sat down at two seats at the bar. An alien came over to them and began speaking in a strange language, looking at them expectantly.

Morty quickly thought back to Rick’s terrible lessons of the Common Language popping up in his mind. Rick had taught Morty a couple of generic phrases to use; most species in the galaxy spoke a common tongue to make communication easier, though for whatever reason, English seemed to be well understood on some planets as well. 

Morty thought hard. “Do speak you the Common Language?” He asked shakily a different tongue, his voice making the sounds of a language he was hardly familiar with.

The creature looked at him, confused. It spoke again, once again in its native tongue.

Morty looked at his sister, exasperated. “Summer, what do we do?”

“Ugh, I don’t know! Here, try again!”

Morty turned back to the alien, but the alien spoke again, this time in a language Morty completely understood. “Oh, you two speak English! Man, you should have said so! What can I get you guys to drink?”

Morty and Summer glanced at each other. “Uh, w-water please.” Morty said.

“Comin’ right up.” The alien left them.

Summer looked at her younger brother. How many times had he been stuck somewhere with their grandfather? She remembered being stuck on the Gazorpazorp planet with Rick; that time, he hadn’t found a way out. She had. This time, she needed to find a way out for her and her brother.

On the other side of the bar, out of Summer or Morty’s line of vision, was a creature that had taken notice of them. He peered at the humans. He hadn’t seen hide nor tail of their species since…

He realized he must speak with them.

The creature stood up and casually wandered down the bar, taking the empty seat next to the female human. The male human glanced at him. The female, evidently noticing the male’s diverted attention, looked beside her.

The creature made eye contact with the red-headed female. There was something eerily familiar about her sharp gaze.

“What are two humans doing here, on Dosne?” The creature said.

Summer glanced at her brother before turning in her chair to face the creature. “Is this the planet we’re on?”

“Yes. Dosne. Now, what are you two doing here?” He said, not unkindly.

“Our ship c-crashed, sir.” Morty said. “M-my sister, s-she’s injured.” He pointed to her leg. “You wouldn’t happen to have any medicine, would you?”

The creature looked down at her leg. “Actually, yes.” He looked back up at the siblings. “What are your names again?”  

“I’m Summer, and this is my younger brother, Morty.” Morty gave a meek wave of his hand.

The creature’s gaze snapped upwards, fixated on both of them, seemingly startled. He glanced around the bar. “Here, let me buy you two drinks first.” He waved down the bartender. “Give me three sploogies, and put it on my tab.” The bartender nodded, scurrying off. “Now, kids- I want you to tell me your entire story.”

Morty blinked. “U-um, well, we’re from the planet Earth-”

“Wait a minute, Morty. Who are you?” Summer asked the creature. The bartender returned, delicately placing the bowls of liquid in front of the siblings.

The creature let out a haughty laugh. “My apologies, children. My name is Adalric, and I believe I know your grandfather. I can see traces of him in each of you.”

Morty stared at Adalric, shocked. “Y-y-you know Rick?!” His heart leaped.

“Rick Sanchez?” Adalric laughed again. “Yes, I do! We were buddies during our Freedom Fighter days.”

Morty and Summer stared at each other in disbelief before looking at Adalric. “What?!” they said in unison.

Adalric looked back at them, surprised. “What, did Rick not tell you? He fought with the F.F. during the Galactic Civil War, when the Federation was gaining more power. Now, of course, the Federation has most of the power, but there are still pockets of the F.F. that are working underground.” He smiled, his grin toothy.  

Summer and Morty stared incredulously at him. “I-I-I can’t believe that! Rick’s a selfish old bastard, he wouldn’t fight for something like that. I mean, yeah, he hates the government, but why would he risk his life-”

Adalric laughed again, cutting off Morty. “You don’t seem to know your grandfather as well as you think you do. Yes, Rick fought against the galactic government in an organized group. Shocking, I know.” He took a sip out of his drink. “But that is a story for another day. Now, children, please tell me your tale as to how you ended up here. Then, after you finish, I will give you medical aide, Summer.” He added, gesturing to Summer’s leg.

Summer took a deep breath. “Okay, well, like, I guess it all began about a month ago, when we were at a wedding between Bird Person and Tammy.”  
“Wait, Bird Person got married?! That sonofabitch, he finally settled down!” Adalric laughed, slapping his knee.

Morty frowned. He didn’t know Bird Person had fought with Rick and the other Freedom Fighters as well. “Y-yeah, he did. But then it t-turned out that Tammy was an undercover agent for the Galactic Federation, and there was a huge fight that broke out, a-a-and Bird Person was killed, and Rick was arrested.”

Summer rolled her eyes. “Thank you, Morty- I was literally just getting to that.”

Adalric’s face dropped. “Bird Person’s dead?” He looked into his drink, swirling it for a moment, silent. “And Rick was arrested. Damn, I never thought…”

“Well, there’s more to it than that,” Summer began. She launched into the whole story. She and Morty together told how Rick had abandoned them on the small planet, and how at first they had thought it was because he was running away, but instead he had given himself up to the Federation in exchange for their freedom and protection. Adalric didn’t seem shocked. They told him of how they managed to get back to Earth, and how the Federation had completely taken over Earth. Adalric asked how Rick’s daughter was holding up; they told her she was surviving. They informed him of the tests they needed to take to be able to get off-world, and how Summer had passed, but because of her relation to Rick, the Federation wouldn’t allow her nor Morty to ever leave Earth. However, Summer told Adalric that she had received a spaceship from Rick on one of their previous adventures, and she and Morty used the spaceship to get into space, until a couple of Federation ships caught them and shot them down, where they crashed onto Dosne.

“Well, you’re a long way from home, that’s for sure. About 8 systems away. You guys are really lucky, too- if I had been one of those Federation goons, you’d be dead.” Adalric took another sip out of his drink. “Well, we should probably get you two some help. Come on.” He stood up, offering his arms to Summer. “I can carry you if you’d like.” Summer didn’t argue, allowing Adalric to scoop her up. She was thankful for the help.

Morty, Adalric, and Summer ducked out of the tavern, making their way over to a cluster of ships. Adalric pulled out some keys, beeping one of the silver ships. “Here, go ahead and get in.”

Morty opened up the side door of the ship, climbing in. Adalric placed Summer beside her brother. “W-where are we going?” Morty asked as Adalric sat down and started up the ship.

He turned around, smiling. “I’m taking you back to rebel base. I’m sure everyone will be happy to meet the grandchildren of the one-and-only Rick Sanchez.”


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5

“Are we ready to squanch this gig?!” Squanchy shouted, spinning a drumstick in his paw.

Rick glanced behind him, seeing his friend on the drums, looking back at him with an expectant smile on his face. “Hell yeah we are!” Rick faced the front, a sea of anonymous faces screaming in anticipation. He leaned forward into the microphone and pulled his fingers through his brown, wavy hair, a sense of exhilaration running through him. “Are you motherfuckers ready?!”

The crowd shrieked, yelling in unison “ _Flesh Curtains! Flesh Curtains! Flesh Curtains!”_

Rick laughed and placed his hands on his guitar, his nimble fingers finding the fret for the first chord of their opening song. He turned his head to make eye contact with Bird Person and Squanchy. “Ready?! One, two, three, go!”

The trio began rocking out, performing one of their original songs, namely “Get Down”. As the crowd sang along, Rick felt another sense overcome him- ecstasy. He was only 23, and was already the first organism to travel interdimensionally using the portal gun he had invented a few years earlier, was already travelling the cosmos in a spaceship he invented with his two best friends, and was already a member of one of the galaxy’s most successful rock bands. 

Yeah, life was good for Rick Sanchez.

The trio finished the song, the last chord echoing around the large room. The audience screamed, wooing and yelling “ _Flesh Curtains!”_

Rick grinned and looked over at Bird Person, who gave a small, warm smile back. His best friend normally seemed to be very stoic; Bird Person’s smile made Rick smile even more.

Rick turned back to the front, grabbing the microphone. He brought it up to his mouth. “Who wants to hear more from THE FLESH CURTAINS?!”

The crowd screamed again, and a few pairs of underwear and bras suddenly made their way onto the stage. Rick picked one up and waved it around, before tossing it back onto the ground at his boots. Rick felt that feeling of ecstasy return as they prepared for the next song.

Yeah, life was good.

!

He was drowning, water was filling his lungs, he couldn’t breathe, everything was cold and hot and cold, he needed air, he couldn’t breathe, couldn’t see—

Rick gasped, his eyes flashing open as he tried to breathe. Everything was beginning to come into focus, but he couldn’t tell where he was- just a moment ago, wasn’t he on stage with his friends?

No.

Rick’s sharp mind quickly caught on, remembrance occurring to him almost immediately. He looked around the room, trying to steady his breath and his heartrate. Sweat dribbled down his temple. The room slowly stabilized in his vision; the gray, metal walls returned. With a Gromflomite on each side of him, holding his arms down, Rick made eye contact with the nameless Federation woman standing directly in front of him.

She was holding a clipboard, clearly having just finished jotting some notes down.

“You…were in a band?” She said, a bored tone in her voice. She peered at Rick over her spectacles.

“Yeah, good job Sherlock. And it was a damn good band! I-I got so many ladies back, back in the day!”

The woman pursed her lips, clearly unamused. _What a tight-lipped bitch,_ Rick thought.

“You know,” she said, turning to the monitor behind her, which was replaying Rick’s memory, “you seem to have been _very_ good friends with Bird Person and Squanchy.” She looked back at him, an uninterested look on her face. “It’s too bad that they’re dead. We would have loved to have interrogated them, too, but,” she shrugged, “life’s full of little concessions.”  

That stung a little, but Rick didn’t show it. Instead, he rolled his eyes. “Pfft. No shit. Being considered intergalactic terrorists will do that to you.” _Was Squanchy dead, too?_

“Mr. Sanchez, do you know why I am administering this memory serum to you?”

Rick didn’t answer. He knew why, but he wasn’t about to let them access his mind. He wouldn’t allow it. He couldn’t. He held too many of the galaxy’s secrets. If the Federation had access to how he had created his portal gun, or how to find the Citadel of Ricks, or any information on the rebels, or-well, anything, really- it would change the galaxy in terrible ways.

She cleared her throat. “Yes, that’s what I thought; you know why. Now, usually, when we use this memory serum,” she said, tapping the syringe with a finger, “it immediately works on the patient. We can literally scroll through all of their most prominent memories, like flipping pages through a book. However, with your mind,” she continued, “we have been unable to do so. Your ability to subconsciously block and store away certain memories is astounding, Mr. Sanchez, I will admit. However, we will gain access to your mind, be certain of that.”

 “Gain access to my mind my ass!” Rick spat. He was tired of this continual cycle; he was too old for this shit. He’d rather just sit in a cell all day back on Earth instead of dealing with these annoyances. Nevertheless, Rick knew she was right. Well, he knew she was right about his ability to store away memories and fight off the serum, so that it only brought up harmless memories, ones that didn’t reveal secrets he didn’t want the Feds to know.

Suddenly, the door behind Rick and the Gromflomites opened. Another Gromflomite came in and approached the woman, whispering something in her ear. Her face changed, a satisfactory smirk on her lips. The Gromflomite left, the door _wooshing_ closed behind him.

“Put him back on his wall,” the woman said to the Gromflomites holding Rick. They did as they were told, dragging Rick back up on his portable cell wall.

“I have news for you, Mr. Sanchez.”

“Oh yeah? Wh-what’s that? Is it my birthday tomorrow, or something? Has it been a year since I’ve been ‘captured’? Whoopdi-fucking do.”

She chuckled. “No. No, your grandchildren-Summer and Morty, yes?- they were caught escaping Earth and were shot down on the planet Dosne, in the Beta 78 System. Your grandchildren are dead, Mr. Sanchez. I’m so sorry for your loss.” She smirked, and waved her hand. “Take him away.”

Rick felt the blood drain out of his face. “You bitch.”

_What the fuck?_

The robot holding Rick’s wall made its way through the hallways, zooming left, right, right, left, left, right.

_No. NO._

Left, right, right, left.

_How the FUCK did they manage to get off-planet? How did they make it all the way to the Beta 78 System? I cant- they CAN’T be dead._

The robot attached Rick’s cell wall to the wall of prisoners, a distinct clicking sound emitting from the placement.

_Those fucking idiots—no, this has to be a mind game. The Feds are trying to trick you, Rick. Don’t fall for it, you piece of shit. No, they can’t actually be dead. My grandkids are not dead, they are NOT dead._

Rick closed his eyes, anger filling his veins, fear gripping his heart.

He wouldn’t believe it. He refused.


	6. Chapter 6

** Chapter 6 **

                Morty looked out the window of the ship, stars zooming past. They had flown three systems over from the Beta 78 System; a large, watery planet that looked similar to Earth in the amount of green land that covered its surface was approaching closer as Adalric steered towards it. 

                They flew through the planet’s atmosphere, a huge, asphalt runway for the ship’s landing getting closer and closer. Landing always made Morty nervous, even when Rick was piloting; he held his breath and closed his eyes.

                Summer looked at her brother, his eyes closed in concentration. She put her hand over his; Morty opened his eyes, and saw Summer giving him a reassuring smile. She knew how he felt.

                With a _thunk_ , the ship landed on the black runway, racing forward on its wheels until Adalric calmly brought it to a halt. He turned around in his seat, facing the siblings, a huge grin on his lizard-like face.

                “Welcome to the planet Meria! Come on, I’ll get you some medical attention, Summer, and then show you two around the base.” Adalric unbuckled his seatbelt and opened his door, hopping out. He opened Summer’s door and slipped an arm under her legs and under her back, carrying her bridal style. He kicked the door closed with his foot. Morty unbuckled himself and followed suite, next to Adalric.

                “S-so this planet is called ‘Meria’? This is where the rebel base is?” Morty asked, his eyes taking in all he could see. This place was beautiful; though he could see a lot of buildings around him and in the distance, there was a distinct overtone of nature ringing throughout. Trees grew between buildings, flowers grew on top of roofs, and grass was pretty much everywhere that sidewalks and roads were not.

It felt as if nature and society were living in unison, instead of society living over nature, as it was on Earth.

                “Yes, it is!” Adalric strode towards a large, rectangle building with plenty of windows. Morty half-jogged to keep up with Adalric’s huge strides. “It’s been the rebel base for about a century. Started off small; the rebellion didn’t really pick up until your grandfather got involved. Ah, here we go.” Adalric, carrying Summer, and Morty strode through the automatic doors, entering the building.

                The room immediately reminded Morty of a hospital front reception area. There were multiple hallways leading out of the room, aliens scurrying in and out.

                The trio was greeted by a blue alien woman sitting at the front desk, who had little antennae sticking out of her head. “Welcome! Oh, it’s you, Adalric! How can I help you?” She smiled.

                Adalric smiled back, shifting Summer slightly in his arms. “Hello, Diviana. I need some medical attention for this girl right here, her leg is pretty torn up. Their ship crashed back on Dosne.”

                “Sure thing, let me get Dr. Zenon.” The woman turned in her swivel chair and pressed a couple of buttons on the desk. She turned back towards them, giving them a small smile. “He’ll be out in a moment.”  

                They stood there awkwardly in silence for a few minutes, Adalric quietly humming, before a small, blue alien man wearing a white labcoat and holding a clipboard came out of one of the hallways.

                “Adalric! How have you been?” Dr. Zenon grinned, before his eyes scanned over Summer. “Ah, right. Follow me, please!” He turned on his heel back into the hallway, Morty and Adalric immediately following behind.

                They followed quietly behind the doctor, as the hallway turned left, right, right, left, left, right, before Dr. Zenon stopped abruptly next to a door, which slid open for easy entry. The four entered the room; a single hospital bed, a desk with a computer on it and a chair underneath it, and small vials of some unknown concoction on the desk were all that were in the room.

                Dr. Zenon sat in the chair as Adalric placed Summer on the bed, where she sat upright, facing the doctor, one hand clamped over her calf. Morty stood awkwardly off to the side.

                Dr. Zenon smiled warmly. “Mind if I take a look at your leg?” Summer nodded, and he scooted closer in his chair and delicately touched her leg with his six-fingered, blue hands.

                “Ah, yes, mm…seems to be a simple, clean cut.” Dr. Zenon stood up suddenly and walked back over to his desk, pulling open drawers and looking through vials of liquid.

                “What did you say your names were?” The doctor said absentmindedly as he rummaged.

                “I’m Summer Smith, and this is my younger brother, Morty Smith.” Summer said, gesturing lightly towards Morty.

                “Mm….wait.” Dr. Zenon stopped suddenly, his back towards the three. “Morty…Smith…? Good Gipnythin!” He spun around suddenly, his eyes bouncing between Morty and Summer. He looked at Adalric. “Are these--?”

                Adalric smiled, nodding.

                Dr. Zenon looked back at the siblings, a huge grin on his face as he began bouncing excitedly on his heels. “You two are the grandchildren of-- _Rick Sanchez!”_

Morty and Summer half-smiled. “Yep,” Morty said.

                “Adalric, you _must_ tell me how you found them!” He said excitedly. “And you two _must_ tell me how you ran into Adalric! I always knew that Rick had kept his family life completely separate from everything else, but I had heard rumors and—”

                “Um, Dr. Zenon, not do be rude or anything, but, like, could you…?” Summer pointed to her leg, looking at him with an apologetic look.

                “Oh! Of course! How silly of me to forget….” He spun back around again, continuing his search for something. “Aha!” Dr. Zenon said, pulling a vial out of the cabinet. He opened another drawer with his other hand and pulled out a dropper, inserting it into the vial, drawing out the bluish, purplish liquid.

                “Wait a second- I’ve seen that before!” Morty abruptly said. “R-Rick had made some from scratch when he got shot. When me and him were on the purge planet, remember?” He added when Summer looked at him questioningly.

                “Who do you think invented it? He did, of course! Your grandfather gave me a lot of valuable chemical inventions, cures, and antidotes for injuries and diseases during his time here.” He gently grabbed Summer’s calf, straightening it. “Now, this may hurt for a brief moment.”Dr. Zenon took his dropper full of the serum and squeezed it over Summer’s wound. Summer flinched and hissed in pain as the liquid sizzled over her flesh, before the injury began to heal itself. The skin began folding inwards, growing back together, as Morty stared in amazement.

                Her wound was gone.

                Summer stared at her formerly injured leg. “Whoa,” she said quietly.

                Dr. Zenon smiled. “Sanchez was quite an amazing guy back in his day. I haven’t seen him for years now.” He looked at Adalric, who shrugged. “You must tell me how you two met Adalric!”

                And so, Morty and Summer both launched into the tale of how they met the lizard-like alien, going back as far as the wedding between Bird Person and Tammy, with Dr. Zenon gasping at all the right moments.

                “I had no idea that there were that many rebels at the wedding!” He said, looking at Adalric.

                “I didn’t know, either. Though it sounds like our people knew, or something- they had their guns ready.”

                “Well, in any case, I’m glad no one on our side was killed. Except for Bird Person, may he rest in peace.” Dr. Zenon bowed his head briefly. “And I’m so sad to hear that Rick had been captured. The Federation…they do not go lightly on prisoners. Especially prisoners who are considered galactic terrorists. Though, it doesn’t surprise me that he sacrificed himself for his family. When I knew him, in his occasional soberness, he would talk very highly of your mother. Beth, was her name, I believe. And her mother, too. He talked about her quite a bit as well,” He said thoughtfully.

                “Well, thank you Dr. Zenon for you time. I really must be showing these kids around base.” Adalric said. Morty and Summer stood up and shook the doctor’s hand as he smiled enthusiastically.

                “Thank you for fixing my leg, Dr. Zenon.” Summer said, grinning.

                He chuckled. “No, thank you grandfather- he’s the one who came up with the serum!”

                Adalric, Summer, and Morty left the room and made their way out of the twisting hallways, before they came back upon the reception area.  They exited, waving goodbye to the receptionist.

                Adalric looked into the sky. The sun was beginning to lower. “Well, we still have a few hours of daylight…I would really like you two to see the base.”

                “Lead the way,” Summer said.

!

                Adalric led them through the main center of the base; many, many aliens were walking around, moving in and out of buildings, holding various ship parts or walking with fellow comrades. One thing that Morty especially noticed was how loud everyone was. They seemed to feel free here; there was no Federation looming over them, watching their every move. Adalric had told Morty and Summer that Meria had had a special cloaking device around it in orbit so that the Federation couldn’t detect the planet on their grids, and the system they were in was too far for the Federation to have known about its existence yet.

                Adalric led Morty and Summer up the stairs of a large concrete building and through the double doors. Inside was a large cafeteria; many aliens were eating dinner, their plates full of seemingly exotic foods, laughing with their buddies.

                “This is our mess hall,” Adalric said. “Everyone comes to eat here together, even the leaders. We believe that no one is above each other; we are all equals,” he continued.

                Morty scanned the tables, taking in all of the various organisms. He recognized many species, though he wasn’t sure he recognized any one in particular.

                “MORTY SMITH?!”

                The room suddenly went silent. All eyes were on a creature in the center of the cafeteria, standing on top of one of the tables.

                “Holy shit- Squanchy?!” Morty gasped. All the eyes in the room shifted to Morty.

                “What are you squanchin’ doing here?!” Squanchy jumped off the table and ran over to the trio, a huge smile on his face.

                “Oh my God, Squanchy- I-I-I thought you were dead!” Morty leaned down and gave the bipedal cat-like creature a hug. Though he hadn’t known Squanchy that well and his only real conversation with him was when he accidentally caught him “squanching” in the cabinet during the house party Rick had thrown, Morty was thankful to see someone he knew alive that he thought had been dead.

                “No! No, no, no! Are you squanchin’ kidding me?! We kicked the Federation’s ass, if you ask me!”

                Morty smiled, and Summer laughed. “Rick had gotten us out of there really quickly, so we didn’t see it through to the end. What happened?” Summer asked.

                “Oh yeah, I know- I was the one who squanchin’ told Rick to take you guys somewhere safe! Here, come sit down with me, and I’ll tell you what happened at the wedding.”

                Adalric, Summer, and Morty followed Squanchy to a table as the chatter began to pick up again. Morty was thankful for that; he hated having all the attention on him.

                They sat down at the table. “Okay,” Squanchy began, “so you saw what had happened. Bitch Tammy shot and killed Bird Person, and then the squanchin’ battle began.” Squanchy sighed as he said Bird Person’s name. Morty remembered; he distinctly remembered the sound of the shots, and the sound of Bird Person’s body hitting the ground with a soft _thud,_ and the quiet _caw, caw_ sound he made as he died.

                “So, after Rick took you guys away, we quickly kicked their squanchin’ asses. The Federation knew that many of us were rebels, but they didn’t realize how _many_ of us were rebels. We were all ready for it, and thankfully, no one on our side who was still actively fighting against the Feds was killed.

                “At the very end, me and a couple of other rebels decided it was time to go as soon as a couple of squanchin’ Feds began calling for backup. So, we slipped out and ran to our ship—which, we had squanchin’ discovered, had had been blasted by the Federation. However, as we tried to find another way to escape, I saw Rick’s ship. It was still in perfect condition; hadn’t been touched. The Feds didn’t know it was his,” Squanchy smiled.

                Morty felt his heart leap. “So you have the ship?!” Morty excitedly said.

                Squanchy grinned. “You squanchin’ know it, kid! We jumpstarted Rick’s ship and flew it back to base. Let him know it’s here when you get the chance, so he can pick it up!”

                Morty’s smile faltered. He looked down at his hands. “R-Rick was captured, Squanchy.”

                “What?!” Squanchy said incredulously. “You’re telling me that _Rick Sanchez_ was taken by the Federation?! I don’t believe it!”

                Summer spoke up, putting a hand gently on her younger brother’s back. She leaned forward. “Yeah. Grandpa Rick gave himself up to the Federation, in order to protect us. He said that the Feds would try and interrogate and torture us to get information on him, so he took us to some small planet in another system. Then, he just left. Next thing we knew, some Federation Gromflomites showed up and took us back to Earth. We saw a billboard saying that Rick had been captured, but Morty and I worked it out that Rick had gave himself up. That’s why the Feds never questioned us; they just plopped us right back on Earth, no questions asked. Then, we hopped into my pink spaceship and got off-world, but a Federation outpost shot us down outside of the planet Dosne, where we, like, crashed. Then Adalric found us, and took us back here. So, here we are.” Summer finished.

                Squanchy was quiet for a moment, his mind thinking. “Well, it doesn’t squanchin’ surprise me that Rick did that for you guys. But he’s gonna have a bad time in prison. The Fed is going to put him through a lot of squanch.”

                “W-which is why we have to break him out.” Morty said suddenly. Adalric, Squanchy, and Summer looked at him in disbelief.

                Morty looked at each of them. “Well, we have to try!”

                “Kid, do you even _realize_ what that means? That means we would have to sneak into the Federation top-security prison, find out exactly where Sanchez is being held, if he’s even still alive or not been driven crazy, and then successfully get him out of there without the Federation noticing that their most top-security prisoner was missing?” Adalric said. Squanchy nodded.

                “Morty…I…I don’t think we can.” Summer said quietly. “Right now we have to get back home. Could we take Rick’s ship, Squanchy?”

                “Absolutely,” Squanchy said.

                “No!” Morty said loudly. “W-we can’t just leave him in there, Summer! There has to be some way! He wouldn’t leave us like that!”

                Summer pursed her lips. “Morty, we don’t-”

                “Shut up, Summer! We can do this! W-w-we can figure out a way! There has to be some way!” Morty said hotly. His cheeks were growing hot. He didn’t know what had overcome him; he knew that there had to be some method that they could extract Rick and bring his grandfather home. There just _had_ to be.

                Summer didn’t say anything. She took her hand off of Morty’s back, her hand falling into her lap.

                After a few moments of silence, Squanchy spoke. “Listen, kid…I’ll talk to the other rebels, try and see if we can come up with a plan. If you want, you two can come and sit with everyone tomorrow, help us come up with a plan.”

                Morty looked up at Squanchy. “Really?”

                He nodded. “Sure thing, kid.”

                Adalric stood up, stretching. Some of the cafeteria had cleared out. “Well, I should probably show you two where you can stay for the night. Thank you, Squanchy.”

                “Yeah, thanks, Squanchy.” Summer and Morty said, standing up also.

                “No problem. It was squanchin’ great to see you guys!”

                “You too.”

                !

                Adalric led them to another building, where there were multiple rooms with beds inside.

                He opened up one of the doors, leading the siblings inside. He flicked on the lights. A bed and a desk were present on either side of the room; the walls were a gray color, the floor a black carpet.

                “Here’s where you’ll be staying. Sorry it’s not as fancy as it could be,” Adalric added, clicking his tongue a little in dismay at the room.

                Summer smiled politely. “No, this is great. Thank you, Adalric.”

                “Well…goodnight, you two. Get some sleep.” Adalric turned around and left, the door _wooshing_ closed behind him.

                Morty and Summer were alone. Neither of them said anything; both sat down on their beds, trying to make themselves comfortable as they fluffed their pillows and crawled underneath the sheets.

                Morty heard Summer let out a long sigh. He couldn’t see her, as the room was dark, but he knew his sister well enough to know what she was thinking.

                “Summer?”

                “Yeah, Morty?”

                “Do…do you think that Rick is okay? Do you think he’ll be okay when we break him out?”

                Summer let out another sigh. “I…I don’t know, Morty. I don’t even know if we’ll be able to get him out. We don’t even know where he is.” She was quiet for a moment, before she rolled over to look at her brother. Morty could just barely make out her shape. “Do you think he would come for us, if we were captured? Or…or do you think, if the situation was pretty much hopeless, he would just dimension-hop to another family, where he could still use your brainwaves to hide in another dimension?”

                Morty fiddled with his blankets. “No. I think he would come for us.”

                Summer rolled back over. “Then we should try and find him, too.”


	7. Chapter 7

** Chapter 7  **

He had met her while trying to steal vials of DNA from the local university’s lab. He needed gorilla DNA, as he was having trouble getting one of his genetic experiments to work; sure, he could have broken into a zoo and retrieved some blood from a gorilla, but he didn’t really feel like dealing with an angry ape.

There he was, standing alone in the dark laboratory classroom, rummaging through the university’s cryogenic freezer as he searched for a vial of gorilla DNA. _Aha._ There it was. He wrapped his fingers delicately around the vial and held it up to eye level, smirking. This was going to help his research in so many ways, he knew it.

“Hello?”

Rick whipped around at the sound of the feminine voice. A silhouette of a woman stood in the doorway; she flicked on the lights. He blinked, his eyes adjusting to the sudden influx of light. She was clearly a graduate student; Rick guessed that she couldn’t have been older than he was, at 22.

He slammed the freezer shut and slipped the vial of DNA into his pocket. “Oh hey there, I didn’t see-”

“Who are you and what are you doing in the cryogenic freezer, at…” she glanced at the clock above his head, “eleven-thirty p.m.?”

“Well, I-I guess I could ask you the same question, babe.” Rick said, an eyebrow cocked. He took a step forward.

“Don’t call me that,” she said sharply, practically snarling. “And I’m in here because I forgot some papers for Dr. Harrison.” She looked down at his hands, one of which was in his pocket, where he had moments before slipped the DNA in. She looked back up at him. “Who are you? Are you a student here?”

“Of course I am,” Rick said, thinking quickly. “I was searching for some, uh, some stem cells for… Dr. Peterson.”

The girl narrowed her eyes. “Dr. Peterson isn’t in the biological sciences department... you aren’t a student! Who are you, and what are you doing here?!” She demanded.

“Fine, fine…I was just going to _borrow_ some DNA for an experiment.” He pulled the vial out of the pocket in his labcoat, and prepared himself to portal out of the room as soon as this conversation was finished.

“‘Borrow’ DNA?! No, that’s stealing! Put it back or I’m calling the police!” She grabbed the phone that was hanging on the wall, preparing to dial.

“I’m a scientist!” Rick defended himself, pointing to his chest. “And I’ll be outta here before you even press that dial button, and I guarantee you’ll never be able to find me.”

“No, you’re a thief!” She spat, finger hovering over the call button on the phone. “And you’re stealing my vial of DNA! I was going to use that for some really important experiments, you know! How the hell did you even get in here?!”

“Oh, this is your gorilla DNA? I had no idea,” Rick said, swirling the vial. He looked at her, an eyebrow cocked. She was pretty. Her red hair was pulled up into a messy ponytail, her eyes blue and sharp as daggers. There was something about the way her elegant shoulders sloped under the lab coat, the way her slim frame leaned forward in accusation. He could tell she was not afraid of him. “You kn-eeurrp-ow, I need to use this for some very important experiments, as well.” 

“What the hell kind of experiments are you doing, where you need to steal DNA?! What, are you going to make some type of bio-weapon?” She said incredulously, looking him up and down.

Rick laughed and swirled the vial again. “Nope. You see, the problem is, I’m reeeaaallllyyyy good at, well, pretty much every field in science- you know, astrophysics, chemistry, biochemistry, physics, general and specific relativity, molecular shit-- you know, the standard stuff- except for genetics. Soooo, I’m going to be doing some experiments by combining DNA and seeing what happens so I can understand it better, among other things. I needed gorilla DNA specifically, and your school’s lab happened to have some. So, thanks, sweetheart!”

“Don’t call me ‘sweetheart’! That’s it, I’m calling the cops.” She pressed the dial button on the phone, putting the reciever up to her mouth. “Yes, hello, 9-1-1? There’s a thief on the local university campus, in building 10, room 234—he’s stealing vials of DNA.”

“Sorry sister, I gotta go!” Rick slipped the vial into his pocket. He whipped out his portal gun and shot a portal into the wall. Rick looked back at her and winked.

She stared at him, her eyes wide in amazement as they bounced between Rick and the green portal swirling on the wall. She lowered the phone. “How…?”

Rick grinned and pointed at his portal gun. “My own invention. It can take me aaaaanywhere I want. I’ve traveled the galaxy, seen other planets. Yep, that’s right!” Rick felt his heart tighten ever so slightly. He liked the look on her face, the way her pink lips made a small oval, the way her blue eyes bounced between him and the portal, calculating, thoughtful. She was intelligent; he liked that.

“What…did you say your name was?” She said.

“Can’t tell you that, since you just called the cops on me. Not like they’ll be able to catch me, though. See ya!” Rick hopped through, the portal disappearing behind him.

!

Rick jolted, his eyes snapping open, his chest moving up and down erratically as he tried to catch his breath. His arms tensed against the Gromflomite’s holds around his wrists as he fought to calm himself. _Of course they would find_ that _memory. Fuck, whatever they used was strong._ Rick closed his eyes again, forcing himself to stop feeling so panicky. He opened his eyes once more, meeting them with the purple stare of the Federation woman.

“That the best you got, bitch? A memory from, what- forty years ago?” Rick smirked, a bead of sweat dripping off his nose. “You’re gonna have to look harder if you want any of the juicy stuff I have stored up here!” Rick nodded upward, indicating his mind.

The woman shrugged, inspecting her fingernails. “Oh, don’t worry, Mr. Sanchez. That is _definitely_ not the ‘best we got’, as you so eloquently put it. I’m assuming that that was your wife.” She added before glancing at her watch. “Well, looks like I must cut our little get-together short. Goodbye, Mr. Sanchez. Take him away,” She said to the Gromflomites. With a look of sneering condescension on her face, the woman delicately entered a code into the door and exited, the door sliding down firmly shut behind her. The sound of the closed door echoed for a moment around the chamber. The Gromflomites holding his arms roughly stuffed him back onto his wall; the robot came by and zoomed him back through the hallways, back through the large doors that read “MAXIMUM SECURITY PRISON” on them, and clicked him back in his place on the wall of prisoners.

Rick hated her. He fucking _hated_ her. He hated the Federation, he hated this prison, he hated Jerry, he hated Tammy, but he especially hated _her._ This unnamed Federation bitch was becoming a real prick in his side, as she administered the memory-retrieval drug with that God-awful smirk on her face in an attempt to retrieve his memories and knowledge about--well, anything, really. Rick’s mind stored a vast amount of valuable information- from the rebellion, to the Citadel of Ricks, to his portal gun, and more. They wanted in, but Rick wasn’t going to allow them. Sure, he had given up his freedom for the safety of his family- _fuck them,_ he thought to himself- but he wasn’t going to give up his secrets.

Or was he?

They were developing a more powerful memory-retrieval serum, and this one was working, he admitted it. They managed to pull up his memory of meeting his wife for the first time. Rick had purposefully stuffed _those_ sorts of memories away long ago—that particular memory he had stored away at the same level as his memories of the Citadel, the rebellion, and his portal gun. It scared Rick Sanchez that they had accessed that level of pushed-away memories.

It was only in rare moments of soberness that Rick recollected any happy memories of a young Beth or her mother. He hated thinking about the past-- he preferred to deal with situations as they came, not dwell in bygone time.

And yet, as he hung alone in the barren chamber, he was sober, and found himself thinking more and more of the past. His mind wandered from Summer, to Beth, to his wife, to Bird Person and Squanchy, until it could no longer avoid the elephant in the room—or, more like it, his mind.

Morty.

A feeling of ugly guilt stabbed at Rick’s insides as he thought about his grandson. As far as he was aware, Morty didn’t know Rick had turned himself in, and probably _hated_ Rick for leaving them. And, as far as Rick knew, Morty was dead.

Rick let out a small hiss through his teeth. _Fuck._

No. He wouldn’t allow himself to feel guilty. He was no martyr, but he _did_ sacrifice his freedom for the safety of his family.

_But your family isn’t safe—your grandkids are probably fucking dead, blasted to pieces on some planet._

_Does Beth know?_

Rick closed his eyes and dropped his head, a couple of wild gray hairs falling in his face. That memory—the Federation had _seen_ that, they had _seen_ the moment that he had been most vulnerable, where he had, admittedly, actually, for the first and only time, fallen in _love_ with someone.

Rick clenched and unclenched his fist.

 He had had many flings with women over the years—however, Unity was probably the only other organism that ever came close to the same level that his wife had been.

It was, after all, at the encouragement of Bird Person that he even got married in the first place. Rick did love the woman, it was true, though he did not want to admit it. However, Bird Person sometimes seemed to know Rick better than anyone, even Rick himself. Rick’s best friend knew how much he loved the woman, and urged him to settle down and marry her.

Rick spat at Bird Person, telling him that marriage would never work for him, that he could never slow down and settle- he was meant to explore the cosmos and create new inventions! Being tied down to Earth would practically kill him. He invented his portal gun and his spaceship so he could leave this crappy planet, not be stuck on it.

Of course, at the time, neither Rick nor Bird Person were aware of one crucial detail- that the woman was pregnant.

When she initially told Rick, the first thing he did was balk. He couldn’t believe it-well, actually, yes he could, the two of them went at it like rabbits- but they’d always use protection. What had went wrong? He wasn’t the kind of person who should be having kids!

Rick realized he was stuck at a crossroad, with one path being the coward’s way out. He could either forego his explorations and settle down with this woman whom he did actually care for, or he could up and leave her and forget this whole love-fiasco happened.

A part of him wanted to leave- he didn’t want any strings attached. However, the other part of him beat these apprehensive feelings down; he loved her. So, as per recommendation of his wise best friend, Rick married the woman.

Of course, situations began to run south about a year after his daughter was born. He loved Beth with all of his heart; as soon as he laid his eyes on her, he believed that nothing in the universe could tear him away from his daughter. However, Rick kept in communication with Bird Person and Squanchy, and kept his ears open on the intergalactic radio frequencies. Talk of the Galactic Federation’s growing presence troubled Rick; news of their recent acquisition of Thruvar Delta Nine and other systems worried him. He knew that Delta Nine was only a few systems away from the solar system where Earth resided. The Federation was not yet aware of Earth, but they would be soon, if no one did anything. Rick knew he needed to protect his family; he was aware of what would happen if the Federation made its way to Earth. The plucky blue planet would become enslaved to the bureaucrats and would be at their mercy.

However, there was even more whispers of the beginnings of a group who called themselves the “Freedom Fighters”. They were a resistance party against the Galactic Federation; the bureaucrats considered anyone who were members to be galactic terrorists.

 Bird Person and Squanchy were members, and, without much hesitation, so was Rick Sanchez.

Rick joined for two paramount reasons: one, because he couldn’t stand the Federation nor its twisted ideas of how to control and keep the galaxy in check, and two, because many species already considered him the smartest person in the galaxy and needed his intelligence to invent projects and weapons that would help overthrow the corrupt government.

Rick obliged, and fought with the Freedom Fighters against the Federation. He drew up blueprint after blueprint of artillery and ships for the band of rebels to use.

However, the only blueprints for any tool he didn’t give to the Freedom Fighters was for his portal gun. He had invented it in his spare time for his own personal use, and it proved to be very useful. Rick’s friends and fellow rebels were aware of his portal device- it came in very handy during close escapes- but all too quickly, the Federation was also made aware.

The Federation had a strong interest in Rick and his portal gun. Not only was Rick the only three-dimensional organism who had traveled interdimensionally- he had actually invented it. The Federation knew that Rick and his portal gun were the key to accessing the many other dimensions on the finite curve, and they would stop at nothing to retrieve it, end the rebellion, and end Rick Sanchez.

However, without intention, Rick had sacrificed his family for the safety of the galaxy. He refused to tell his wife--let alone his young daughter-- about the galactic war between the rebels and Federation. He knew that would only put them in danger. Instead, he would quietly leave for a few weeks or so before returning to a joyful daughter and an angry wife.

Slowly, over the course of about seven years, Rick found himself away from his wife and daughter more and more. The few times he was home, it became nothing but tension between his wife and him. Anytime he tried to take Beth anywhere with the portal gun, just to show her another amazing world, her mother would become angry. Slowly, their marriage deteriorated.

Finally, Rick had had enough. The Federation and the Rebellion were getting out of hand, and his marriage with his wife was failing. He realized that love was just a chemical reaction. It had hit him hard, at first-- he would never forget how _different_ she was from anyone else he had ever met, and how she intrigued him-- but, over time, it all fell apart, for multiple reasons. When Beth was eight, he kissed her on the cheek, told her he loved her, took his portal gun, and left.

Rick clenched his teeth and opened his eyes, staring at nothing, bringing himself back to the present. _Fuck._ He hated thinking about what he did. He knew Beth had abandonment issues because of him, and he knew that he manipulated her as an adult. He _knew_ that if he played his cards right with his daughter, he could slip past any emotional baggage that their relationship carried.

He hated how emotional humans were—and he hated himself for not being an exception.

Rick closed his eyes again, attempting to push all thoughts away. He was exhausted; he was so tired from all of this Federation bullshit. A small part of him whispered, telling him to just _give up_ and let the Federation have it, have it all—then he would finally be finished with everything.

Rick sighed; what he really needed was a drink.


	8. Chapter 8

**A/N: Short chapter, sorry everyone!**

** Chapter 8 **

Morning came much too quickly for Morty and Summer. After groggily waking up his sister, who kept blearily demanding “five more minutes”, Morty discovered neatly folded clothes on each of their chairs. He was thankful; his and Summer’s current clothes were tattered and torn from the crash, and they had no other items or attire with them.

Morty hazily got himself dressed, pulling a plain, yellow shirt over his head. It was very similar to his other yellow shirts; Morty appreciated the familiarity.

After Summer finally got up, slipping on the pink shirt and associated clothing so graciously folded on her respective chair, and pulling her unkempt hair up into a ponytail (“What I would do for a hairbrush”, she sighed), the siblings made their way out of the dormitory and into the outside world, where rebellion-associated aliens were meandering about, preparing for their day.

Morty spotted Adalric sauntering over to them. “Good morning, Morty and Summer. How did you sleep?”

“Great,” Morty said.

“A lot better than we’ve had in a while,” Summer noted, yawning. “What’s the plan for today?”

Adalric smiled. “Well, I was thinking that, since Morty proposed having the rebellion help break Rick out of Federation prison, I would have you two meet the leadership—the councilmembers—of the rebellion and put forward the proposition.”

“W-wait, really?” Morty said, eyes wide.

“Yes. They’re the ones who will be able to help you—they can organize the people.” 

“Wow, that sounds—thanks, Adalric!” Morty exclaimed.

_We have a chance._

The trio made their way over to the cafeteria, where Morty and Squanchy had rendezvoused the previous evening. Breakfast was being served; Adalric, Summer, and Morty each plopped scoops of some strange alien food onto their plates before scavenging for and finding an empty table.

“I’ve already made arrangements for your meeting with the council. We’ll leave after we finish eating here,” Adalric said.

The trio ate quietly for the next twenty minutes or so, making casual small-talk here and there. Adalric was curious about Morty and Summer’s mother; he said that Rick had spoken about her occasionally when she was a young child, and was interested to know how she’d been faring lately.

Summer and Morty looked at each other, both of them ridden with guilt at the mention of their mother.

After they finished eating, Summer and Morty followed Adalric outside to a large, circular building, big purple bushes and a rainbow of flowers surrounding the structure.  Morty blinked; it was very impressive.

They walked up the stairs and through the double doors to the inside of the building. There was no one inside; a few vases filled with flowers sat on small sidetables beside chairs. A single large metal door was cut into one of the walls.

“The council is right through there,” Adalric said softly, pointing to the metal door. He plopped himself down in one of the chairs. “Go ahead, go inside.”

Summer looked at Adalric, her eyes weary.

“You’ll be fine,” he said in response to her look. He gave a kind smile. “They’ll listen to you. Go ahead inside. I’ll be waiting out here.”

Summer pursed her lips before glancing at her brother. She turned back to the door before it _wooshed_ open.

Morty and Summer stepped inside, the door closing behind them. The room they entered was round and large; tall, elongated windows all around them allowed bright sunlight to filter through, illuminating the tall, wooden counter in front of them, behind which there were seven aliens of different races. 

Morty was vaguely reminded of the Council of Ricks’ chamber.  

“Speak, boy,” said the councilmember on the far right after a moments’ silence, his four eyes suspiciously watching Morty and Summer.

“M-my name is Morty Smith,” Morty began, his stomach twisting in tension.

“And I’m Summer Smith.” Summer stated, her voice reverberating around the chamber. The council members glanced at each other before shifting their gazes back to the human teenagers.

 “We are the Council of the Rebellion, or as it is commonly known, the Freedom Fighters,” said a female alien on the left side of the councilmen’s’ counter.  She gave a toothy half-smile, her lips thin. “I am Yygra.”

Each of the other council members gave their names in loud, reverberating voices that echoed around the chamber. Silence reigned for a moment after all seven spoke, before Morty cleared his throat.

“We’re here b-because we have a request to make of the rebellion. As you know, our grandfather, Rick Sanchez, w-was captured by the Galactic Federation a few months ago, and i-is being held right now in some unknown place. We need your help to break him out.” Morty finished. He looked up at the seven council leaders; all were staring back at him with questioning looks.

One of the members on the right stood. “Rick Sanchez was—is—a very useful asset to the rebellion, and we deeply regret his incarceration. However, we can’t just go around sending our soldiers into undisclosed and unknown _prisons_ for a human who assisted the rebellion some thirty, forty years ago!”

Another member, on the far left, stood up as well. He bit his lip, looking between his fellow councilman and the human siblings. He was pot-bellied and stout, and, for some odd reason, vaguely reminded Morty of Benjamin Franklin. “Without Sanchez, the rebellion would have been shut down, if not obliterated, by the Federation. Without him, we wouldn’t exist today.”

“That was years ago, I don’t think-”

Another councilmember stood, her voice crisp. “Councilman, didn’t Sanchez save your life during the Battle of Ymar?”

The councilman stumbled over his words, stuttering out phrases like “well yes, but I-”

Suddenly, all seven members were on their feet, pointing at each other, arguing in a precipitously loud volume.

Morty and Summer looked at each other, worried looks on both of their faces. Morty felt a hand on his shoulder; he turned around, Adalric suddenly behind him.

“Let’s wait outside. Politicians and councilmembers are notorious for arguing, and their species may start spitting poison soon if they keep it up.” Adalric escorted Summer and Morty outside of the circle room, the door slamming shut firmly beside them as soon as they exited into the hallway.

Morty leaned up against the wall, a sinking feeling in his stomach. _No way are they going to approve this._

“We don’t even know if he’s still alive!”

“They wouldn’t just kill Sanchez-- he’s very useful, and it’s only been about two months since the Feds got him! They wouldn’t kill him yet.”

“What if he broke? What if, what if the Feds broke him and he gave away all of our secrets? All of the galaxy’s secrets?”

“Are you kidding me? Do you even _know_ who we’re talking about right now? We’re talking about Rick Sanchez! He is the _last_ person in the _universe_ who would break!”

Morty stood, silent, beside the closed metal door. He could hear their muffled, fervent debate on whether or not to help him and his sister rescue their grandfather. The fifteen year old boy looked down at the clean floor, scuffing it lackadaisically with his white shoe.

He felt a gentle, warm hand take hold of his own. He looked up at Summer, who gave him a small, reassuring smile. “It’ll be okay,” she said. “There’s no way they can say no.”

Morty half-smiled at his sister before looking back down at his shoes as the arguing in the other room continued. He appreciated her kindness. _Yes, of course they can say no._ He thought to himself. _They don’t owe us anything._

The door opened suddenly with a loud _bang!_ Morty and Summer jumped, quickly spinning on their heels to face the door. One of the council members—Morty couldn’t remember the name of the alien, all he knew was it sounded like some kind of fancy shit—hastily turned to face the siblings, a bead of sweat on his brow but a smile on his face.

“We have approved your request for assistance in your effort to liberate Rick Sanchez of his incarceration.”

Morty and Summer looked at each other at the same time, smiles spreading over both of their faces as they grabbed each other’s arms in elation.  

“Thank you, thank you!” Summer repeated, relief flooding through her.

The rebellion was going to help break Rick out of Federation prison.


	9. Chapter 9

** Chapter 9 **

“Of course it works!” Rick said.

“Rick, I think it is unwise of you to use your portal gun. It is only a prototype, and has yet to work.” Bird Person warned, wearily eyeing Rick’s hands, which were busily making small adjustments to the makeshift portal gun. “Last time you attempted to use it, your portal gun incinerated the wall and exploded, causing severe burns on your hands and the surrounding upholstery.” 

Rick rolled his eyes, though he distinctly remembered the sting of his palms as the portal gun had burned away the flesh on his hands. “Of course it works!” Rick repeated. “I fixed my math, didn’t divide right the first time—serves me right for trying to do partial differential equations in my head.” He bit his lip as he fiddled with the prototype. It had taken him years to complete it. Rick remembered when he had initially drawn up the blueprints seven years ago, when he was fifteen—his calculations had led him to hypothesize that alternate dimensions existed, and he had the full intention of discovering and exploring each and every one on the finite curve. He had already built a spaceship, but why not go one step further and explore other dimensions of the universe?

“There! That should do the trick,” Rick said as he placed the portal gun back on the wooden table. He ran his fingers through his wavy brown hair, taking a deep breath, his heart racing. The portal gun was not aesthetically pleasing just yet; it was large and blocky, with wires sticking out at every odd angle. The screen that displayed the current dimension blinked back at him in large numbers, reading “C-137”.

“Alright Bird Person, are you ready to see the goddamn multiverse?!” Rick said, picking up the portal gun once more. “Which dimension should we see? How about, C-160? Might be waaay different f-f-from our dimension.” Rick pushed the crude buttons on the portal gun, causing “C-160” to begin blinking up at him on the large screen. He aimed it at the gray wall across from him and pulled the trigger halfway down, hearing the sweet, high-pitched sound of the device warming up and preparing to fire.

Bird Person sighed, but faced the wall, ready. Neither knew what exactly to expect.

Rick closed one eye and pulled the trigger.

A splat of green, gooey-looking swirling substance landed on the wall, a distinct _zzrrt_ emitting from the gun and the impact. The portal sat there on the wall, spinning, waiting for someone to enter it and see beyond the current dimension.

Rick smirked, feeling his chest swell up with pride and excitement at the prospects. He turned to Bird Person, grinning, an almost maniacal glint in his eye.

“I’m a fucking _genius.”_

!

A sharp intake of breath into his lungs and Rick was awake once again, angrily blinking back the prototype portal gun memory. Seeing Bird Person alive and well in his memory made him feel like there was a huge pressure on his sternum, like there was this huge rock that wouldn’t stop crushing his chest.

He breathed in, out, in, out, trying to calm himself, as he lifted his head and glared at the Federation woman. Many thoughts ran through his mind, but one distinct thought rang throughout his brain: _they’re getting closer, they’re going to fucking crack you open and spill_ everything.

“So,” the woman began, peering at him with a supercilious smirk, “ _that_ was your first portal gun.” She stared at him for a moment, and Rick could swear he saw a look of amazement pass over her face before it returned to her normal expression, with one eyebrow cocked and her lips tight and upturned. She took a couple steps around the room, her high heels clicking on the metal floor, before turning back to him. “I’m glad to see that our scientists’ new-and-improved memory serum is working well. They had to develop it special for you, Mr. Sanchez. But, we’re getting closer.”

“Yeah whatever,” Rick scoffed.

She suddenly came right up to him, her hands on each of the arms of his chair, her face only an inch from his own. Rick could see every pore on her face and every individual hair on her eyebrows.

“The Federation is going to crack you like an egg, Sanchez. We are already so close. We’re going to break you and lay you open for the entire _galaxy_ to see. Those _secret_ memories you have? We’re going to get them. We’re going to see every important memory you’ve ever stored. Even the memories about your grandchildren. We’re going to suck those right out of you, and it’s going to continue being painful, Mr. Sanchez. Many organisms who go through the process of memory retrieval die—but not before we finish attaining their memories. You’ll be the first human—and, as we can easily agree on, humans tend to be of the, ah, weaker species.”

Hot anger flashed through Rick’s body. He spat in her face.

She stood up immediately. One of the Gromflomites holding Rick’s arms handed her a tissue. She sharply snatched it, and began dabbing at her face while staring at him incredulously.

Rick glared at her, hot white anger accompanying his words. “Guess what? I fucking _hope_ I die. I’m sick of this shit. I-I-I-I’ve been dealing with you Feds for, for, the past, what—forty years? You’re all just a, a bunch of crazy lunatics running around, thinkin’ you just _own_ the galaxy or something, that you’re just entitled to a shit ton of stars and planets that happen to be orbiting around one another. Well guess what, bitch? You’re _not!_ You can kill me, that’s fine—but let me make one thing crystal clear to _everyone._ There is no way you will _ever_ be able to get my memories. So why don’t you do everyone a favor, go get a gun, and shoot me now?!”

The Federation woman stared at him. “Fine,” she said. She turned to one of the Gromflomites. “Give me your gun, SJ-135.”

The Gromflomite reached into his belt and pulled out a laser gun. He placed it into her outstretched hand.

Rick eyed the exchange. Was she seriously going to shoot him?

She cocked the gun and took a couple steps over so she was standing right in front of Rick. She raised the weapon, closing one eye.

“Do it,” Rick said. “Just fucking _do it!”_

She pulled the trigger.

Rick let out a yell as a sudden hit of white hot pain filled his right shoulder. He tried to clasp his shoulder with his other hand, but the Gromflomites were holding him down, so instead he screamed “ _fuck!”_

Through the pain he managed to look at his shoulder, and saw red blood beginning to blossom underneath the orange jumpsuit, a large tear from the blast open to the world.

“Did you really think I would just kill you, Mr. Sanchez?” She gave a small laugh before turning to the Gromflomites. “Take him away, I’m done with him.”

“F-f-fuck you, lady!” Rick spat as the Gromflomites roughly chained him back onto the mobile prison wall, pain emanating from his wound.

“Oh calm down, I didn’t hit any major arteries.” She smiled.

At that moment, Rick realized he was screwed if he didn’t find a way out, and fast.


	10. Chapter 10

**Chapter 10**

For the next few weeks, Morty and Summer reconvened with the leaders of the rebellion, discussing, forming, and scratching ideas as to how they should go about freeing Rick. Frustration was forming among the Freedom Fighters and the Smith siblings; the former seemed to be spending way too much time arguing over why each other’s ideas were stupid, instead of collaborating together to come up with a coherent plan.

After one of such said meetings, Morty found himself in Adalric’s workplace, where he tended to stay when he didn’t feel in the mood to talk with Summer or even Squanchy.

Morty liked Adalric; he was always so calm and collected, and always let Morty ask questions about things he didn’t understand.

The workshop consisted of a long desk with a lot of spare metal pieces on it, most of them from wrecked spaceships. Morty had learned that Adalric’s main job in the rebellion was repairing spaceship parts. He mindlessly picked up a piece of scrap metal left on the workbench, turning it over in his hands, lost in thought.

“What’s on your mind, Morty?” Adalric said, turning in his chair to face the fifteen year old.

Morty set down the scrap metal, letting out a sigh. “I-I just…just wish Rick were here. He would know how to break somebody out. He would know what to do.”

Adalric drummed his long fingers on the workbench. “We’ll find him,” he said, though Morty sensed a certain amount of half-heartedness in his statement. No, Aldaric had said that just to instill hope in Morty for the Freedom Fighters and their failing attempt to assemble a feasible strategy.

“If the stupid Federation hadn’t taken Rick’s stuff…h-he may have had something in there that we could have used!” Morty turned to Adalric. “I mean, we could have used the Meeseeks box, o-o-o-r his portal gun—oh, but that self-destructed at the Wedding…” Morty frowned.  A rectangular, metal object had caught his eye. It had a handle and a lot of wires sticking out arbitrarily as it sat in the corner of the workbench, pushed off to the side. It looked familiar. “Hey, w-what’s that?”

“Hm?” Adalric followed Morty’s line of sight. “Oh, that.” He leaned forward, picking it up and inspecting it with a look of trifling nature. “This was your grandfather’s first portal gun.”

Morty’s heart jumped. “ _What?!”_ He snatched the crude portal gun out of Adalric’s hands, gaping as he turned it over and over, the metal cool in his palms, the shape and feel of the gun familiar yet unfamiliar. “This was Rick’s… _first_ portal gun?”

“Yep. Made it when he was…oh, I dunno… twenty-one? Twenty-two? Somethin’ like that,” Adalric said nonchalantly. “He came to us long after he had already perfected the gun, though.”

“Then why do you have it?”

“He left it here for Bird Person to use, but Bird Person didn’t want to use it because he was worried that it would fall into the Fed’s hands, so he refused to bring it anywhere when they went on missions. Your grandfather was pissed when Bird Person told him; Rick didn’t believe that the Feds would be able to get it, if it was being cared for by the right person. Morty, don’t get me wrong—Rick was—is—an extremely intelligent person, but…he was reckless with that portal gun.”

Morty let out a sardonic laugh. “He still is.”

Adalric smiled. “Doesn’t surprise me. Though he’s probably slowed down in his old age, right?” At Morty’s silent shrug, he continued. “Anyway, he was pretty reckless. I mean, if it had been anyone else—and I mean _anyone_ else using that portal gun the way he did—they would have gotten killed. Rick…he portalled in and out of Fed outposts and ships just to screw with them; once he even portalled into the goddamn _headquarters_ just because he wanted to see if the Gromflomites really drank piss. And, no, they don’t. He knew that,” Adalric added at Morty’s questioning look.

“Anyways, my point is that Rick was reckless. Smart, but irresponsible. The portal gun gave him access to the entire _multiverse_ and all he did was muck around.”

Morty didn’t say anything. It didn’t surprise him to hear that about his grandfather—hell, Rick was _still_ like that. Morty turned the portal gun around in his hands again, his thumb tracing over the cool glass container that held the green portalling power. It was off.

“Wait, Adalric…” Morty suddenly said, a thought striking him. “Why can’t we just use this portal gun to find Rick and get him out of jail?”

Adalric grimaced. “I’m not going to lie to you, Morty. I’ve thought about it, but the problem is—no one knows where Rick is. We don’t know what high-end security prison Rick is at. You gotta know the coordinates in order to portal there. And,” he added, “no one knows how to exactly, uh, work the portal gun. The only other person who knew how was Bird Person, but he’s…”

“Dead. Yeah,” Morty insipidly stated. He didn’t defer, however. This portal gun was his only chance to get his grandfather back. He looked back up at Adalric, a quiet firmness in his voice. “I’ve seen Rick use it. I-I know how. Kind of,” Morty said.

Adalric shrugged. “Feel free to take it. I’m not sure if it even still works, though—it’s been years since the last time it was used.” Adalric turned back to his workbench, his back to Morty. The conversation had clearly ended.

Without saying anything, Morty turned and left Adalric’s workshop, going back out into the bright sunlight. He knew what the first thing he had to do was.

He had to find Summer.

!

“ _That_ was Grandpa Rick’s first…portal gun?” Summer said in disbelief, staring down at the device.

Morty nodded. “Yep.” He had relayed to her everything that Adalric had told him. “And, Summer, I-I have an idea.”

Summer looked at him, putting her hands on her hips. “Let me guess—you want to portal back to Earth and get Grandpa Rick’s stuff back, so that we can use his things to find him and break him out?”

Morty grinned. “Yes!”

Summer looked up into the bright sky. “Which of his inventions do you think would help us? I mean, like, I guess there’s the Meeseeks box…” Summer said unassumingly, though Morty could see a small smile on her lips.

“Yeah! I say we, we take back all of Rick’s stuff and then use it to find him!”

Summer looked back at him, a glint in her eye. “Doing something is better than nothing, right? I mean, the damn leaders haven’t done anything for us except argue.” She added bitterly. “And it’s already been a few weeks. Time’s running out.”

Morty nodded. “Right! I say, I say w-we go tell them our plan and go through with it, no matter what they tell us!”

Summer nodded. “Let’s go.”

!

The siblings had made their way over to the council chambers; now they stood under the calculating looks of the Rebellion’s leaders.

“We, um, want to propose something to everyone,” Summer said.

Morty cleared his throat before speaking. “We have Rick’s first portal gun, and we were thinking that we would portal back to Earth and find Rick’s inventions—the ones that the Federation had taken—a-and bring them back here. Maybe sort through them, you know? A-and see if anything can help us find Rick.”

“No one knows how to use it,” said one councilmember—the one who had initially refused Morty and Summer.

“I do,” said Morty indignantly. _Kinda,_ he added to himself. “B-but I do know how to get back to Earth!”

“You do?” Summer muttered to him.

“Yeah, Rick made me memorize Earth’s coordinates,” Morty muttered back.

The council murmured amongst themselves. Most of them seemed to be nodding.

One stood up, his four arms behind his back. “We approve of your request. You can proceed whenever you feel fit to travel.”

Morty looked at Summer, grinning. Their plan was going to work.

!

“Adalric—you wouldn’t happen to know this planet’s coordinates, would you? I need it, in order to portal back here.” Morty asked. He had went back to Adalric’s workshop to inform him of the good news. “This portal gun doesn’t have the ‘Last Location Visited’ button, like it does on Rick’s current one.”

Adalric frowned, thinking. “Maybe. I want to say it’s C-137-33-457-66-7-8897857…here, let me just double check.” He swiveled in his chair and opened a drawer, rummaging through folders and folders of paperwork. Finally, after what seemed like ten minutes, he pulled out a small paper that had a series of numbers printed on it. “C-137-33-457…yep, this is it!” He waved it around for a moment before handing it to Morty. “This will take you back here to Dosnia.”

Morty grinned, reading over the numbers before stuffing the paper into his pocket. “Thank you, Adalric!” He said sincerely.

“No problem, kid.”

With a hearty goodbye, Morty left the dingy workshop to go find his sister. He felt they were ready to go and retrieve Rick’s inventions.

Morty entered back into the sunny outside world; he glanced around, his eyes searching for the ginger hair of his sister. He finally spotted her sitting underneath a purple-trunked tree with orange leaves.

Morty approached Summer, smiling. She stood up, knowing without his saying anything that they were ready to leave.

“Ready to go?” Morty asked her. 

“Yeah.” She watched her brother as he pulled out the portal gun. “Wait so—what did Grandpa Rick make you memorize?” Summer asked, staring at the glowing portal gun in her brother’s hand.

“Our home coordinates, y’know, incase I ever got lost, or something. Oh jeez, I hope this thing still works-” he muttered as he flicked the “ON” switch, the portal gun more or less sputtering back to life. A feeling of elation rose through Morty at the green glow of the portalling power.  “C-137-17-9-56-39.4- 2-46.2. And to get home, t-to our house, you then have to type in 38.0406-84.5037,” Morty said slowly, as he typed in the appropriate numbers.

Summer stared in amazement at her brother. Though he was sometimes a pain and was extremely naïve, when it counted, Morty could definitely be depended upon. It was in these subtle moments that Summer could see where Rick had been rubbing off on Morty.

“Alright, and, now, we just aim…” Morty lifted up the portal gun, holding the trigger halfway down as it made a high-pitched sound as it warmed up, ready to release its energy, “and fire!”

Morty pulled the trigger. A green, swirling portal suddenly appeared before them.

The Smith siblings stared at the portal before staring at each other, grinning ear to ear, hearts lifting with elation.  

“Let’s go get Grandpa’s stuff back.”

Morty stepped through the portal first, the familiar tingling sensation--something he had not felt in a long time—encompassed him as he emerged on the other side.

He looked around; he was back in his living room. He was back _home._

Summer emerged behind him, the portal disappearing after. “It’s…our house!” Summer said. She spun around; the house was dark. “Where’s Mom and Dad?”

Morty shrugged, already beginning to patrol around the house for anything useful he could find—though, he didn’t have any particular item in mind. “M-maybe they went out, for the evening?” He glanced outside the front window, making a mental note of the empty driveway.

Summer pursed her lips, eyebrows knitted together in worry. “Morty, I think we should let them know we’re okay, and that we’re alive.”

Morty turned to his sister, eyes wide. “We can’t do that, Summer. No one can know we’re here.”

Realization dawned on Summer at her brother’s words. She shifted her weight, sighing. “The Feds think we died when we crash-landed, don’t they? And if they find out we’re alive…”

“Then they’ll _really_ kill us.”

Summer nodded. “Alright. Okay.” She let out a deep breath. “Okay. So, what’s the plan, Einstein?”

Morty scratched the back of his head. “Well, t-to be honest…”

Summer crossed her arms. “We don’t have a plan, do we?” She said.

Morty shook his head, the portal gun suddenly feeling very heavy in his hand. He had had quixotic visions of them breaking into a government facility and stealing back Rick’s inventions, but, now that they had arrived back at Earth, he finally realized the impracticality of the situation.

Unexpectedly, the doorknob on the front door started jiggling, a key being inserted into the lock—a clear indication that their parents were home.

Summer looked at Morty, his face white with terror. “Here, in the garage!” She hissed. The siblings quickly darted around the furniture and into the dark garage, Summer silently closing the door just as their parents came in through the front entryway.

The distinctive whiny voice of Morty’s father was clearly heard through the garage door. “—and I just can’t _believe_ the audacity that government-shit insect had, telling us that I don’t have the ‘proper authorization’ to access the higher level storage rooms…I’m a government employee! I should have some kind of right to go where I want, especially in the Confiscated Dangerous Items Department!”

“Jerry, just—stop, okay?” Beth sighed, exhaustion leaking through her every word. “You, you tried, okay? Thank you for trying, at least. But I highly doubt that they would allow someone with your low job level into a place like _that._ I mean, did you see the amount of guns those guards had? Even just at the entrance!”

“I told you we shouldn’t have tried to go and get Rick’s stuff back. Now the Federation thinks we’re criminals like your dad-”

“We are _not_ criminals, and neither was my dad!” Beth practically screamed. Even in the dark, sitting with his sister, Morty could visualize his mother spinning on her heels to face Jerry, the blood rushing to her cheeks. “I have _every_ right to inherit his inventions; and, who knows...maybe…maybe one of his devices could help us find the kids.”

Beth’s voice broke at the mention of her missing children. That’s when the sobbing began.

“Beth, I-” Jerry hesitated. “I know.”

So badly did Summer want to rush out to her parents, to show them that she and Morty were alive, that they were planning to take back Rick’s inventions and find Rick. But, instead, she found her brother’s hand in the dark and squeezed it tightly.

After a half hour or so, Morty and Summer’s parents finally made their way up the stairs to their bedroom. The siblings waited an extra fifteen minutes to be sure that they wouldn’t come back down.

Morty reached up above Summer, flicking on the garage light. Fluorescent light suddenly filled the chilly room, revealing to Morty just how empty the garage was without Rick or his inventions. Morty thought of Rick with a pang. The only thing left in the garage was an overturned chair, now dusty since its disuse. Even the secret hatch to the underground laboratory had been revealed and opened; Morty assumed that the underground lab had been raided, too.

He turned to his sister, keeping his voice to a low murmur. “D-did you hear what Dad said? Rick’s stuff is in the Confiscated Dangerous Items Department!”

Summer let herself smile. “And I know where that is, too. I overheard some of my classmates talking about the kind of stuff they think is held in there—it’s over where the old military base used to be. Only, like, a forty-five minute walk over there.”

Morty grinned. “I have a plan.”

!

They had left quickly after ironing out the details of their plan. They snuck away through the front door, covered by the darkness of the night. The streets were quiet; only a stray cat and a homeless person crossed the siblings’ path. It wasn’t hard to find the old military base; a large metal fence surrounded the area, accompanied by large floodlights that swept slowly across the grounds.

Morty and Summer hid behind an abandoned car, about a hundred feet from the entrance to the gate that led to the large, gray building that surely held Rick’s inventions.

Morty looked at his sister, the portal gun held tightly in his hand. The plan was to portal directly into the building. Morty knew they were going in blind, but worst case he knew he could portal them out of there quickly if things went awry.

Though he also knew they only had one real opportunity to get what they needed.

Summer had previously looked up on Google Maps the exact coordinates of the exact center of the building and wrote them down for her brother. Morty now entered the coordinates into the portal gun and fired it onto the side of the car, where none of the Federation workers could see the green glow.

Morty gave Summer one last look before stepping through the portal first, she following closely behind him.

The portal closed. The siblings found themselves in a long hallway, lit by overhead fluorescent lamps that gave the impression of some kind of morgue. On each side of the hallway were doors, the names of the people whose items were confiscated printed on each door.

Morty breathed out a small sigh of relief. He realized that, by portalling into this exact hallway, him and Summer had completely bypassed all of the security hoops they would have needed to jump through to enter this hallway. He quietly thanked a God he didn’t believe in that they had been lucky enough to portal into the right location.

“C’mon, Summer,” he whispered. “Rick’s name will be in this hallway. We gotta find the door with his name on it!”

Summer nodded. They trotted down the long hall, glancing back and forth at the titles, muttering the names under their breaths.

“Safine, Saggorio, Salica, Samirez…Sanchez! Rick Sanchez! Here he is, Morty!” Summer stopped abruptly in front of the tall metal door, grabbing her brother’s arm. Morty looked up and down the door, his heart racing. Was all of Rick’s devices and inventions really behind this door?

He lifted the portal gun, turning one of its dials to “PASS THRU WALL”. He aimed it at the door and fired, a green portal suddenly implanting itself on the door.

Morty hopped through, Summer right behind him. They found themselves on the other side of the door, inside of a large room that held piles and piles of inventions, many of which Morty recognized immediately. The Meeseeks Box, the interdimensional cable box, the transportation device he had accidentally broken when talking to Jessica during that party over a year ago--Morty suddenly felt a surge of excitement. The plan was working. 

“C’mon, Morty! We gotta get moving! Quick, fire the portal!”

“Oh, r-right!” Morty clumsily pulled out the piece of paper that Adalric had given him, and entered the coordinates for Dosnia. He fired the portal gun once again into the air, another green portal appearing. Summer hopped through. Morty waited a moment his heart pounding, before Summer’s hands reemerged in the portal. The fifteen year old scrambled for a moment before placing the first thing he saw- the Meeseeks Box—into Summer’s waiting hands.

They began this small firemen-type line, with Morty handing inventions he could hold to Summer, and pushing the bigger ones through the portal with Summer’s help. Finally, after about an hour of painstaking and careful work, they finished moving Rick’s inventions through the portal back onto Dosnia.

Morty looked at Summer, a grin on his face. They had completely cleared out the room, it finally void of any wrongly-taken invention or device. “Alright, are, are we ready to head back?”

Summer nodded, smiling. “Absolutely.”

Together, they jumped through the portal, it closing behind them.


	11. Chapter 11

**Chapter 11**

Anger.

Pure, unadulterated anger.

That raw, audacious fury is all Rick felt as he watched the Federation woman draw up a syringe filled with the newest memory serum.

It had only been two days since she had shot him in the shoulder; it had thankfully only been reduced to a dull pain in his arm, but it was a wound that had gone untreated by anyone.

The woman approached Rick as he sat restrained in his chair, the needle fully drawn up, pointed upwards in a prepared fashion. More anger boiled under Rick’s skin.

She poked around for a moment on each of his exposed forearms, searching for a vein that had not yet been collapsed. Finally she found one, and with a grunt of gainsay from Rick, she plunged the needle into his vein, depositing the memory serum into the scientist’s body.

Darkness, of which was becoming much too familiar for Rick, quickly enveloped him.

!

This time was different.

It was nothing but pain.

It was as if something was being forcibly ripped from him, as if someone was reaching into his body and pulling out his liver.

Something was being taken from him.

_“The Council of Ricks forbid you…”_

Flashes of his face.

_“The portal gun’s power comes from….”_

Green.

_“No, we can’t risk the Federation knowing about these; the danger is too great!”_

An old, familiar face…Adalric?

_“Morty, you’re being petulant!”_

His grandson.

Rick knew what they were doing. They were trying to get into his head, trying to rip him open, spill his secrets, _kill him—_

He wouldn’t allow it.

He would _not_ allow it.

More flashes of the Citadel; he felt a sudden resurgence of its location, the dimensional coordinates on the tip of his consciousness—

No. _NO!_

He forced the numbers down, stuffed them away; he could not allow them to know!

Another memory, this time of the rebellion; faces of its current members were about to flash across his mind—

He stuffed those down, too.

With a mental effort that felt as if he was pushing a boulder, Rick conjured up a blank white room where he stood in his subconscious, knowing that he would appear on the television screen in the physical room. Using all of his mental energy to prevent any other thoughts or memories from surfacing, Rick raised one hand, all the fingers curled inwards except for his middle finger, giving an eternal “fuck you” to the Galactic Federation.

!

_WHAM!_

“You son of a bitch!”

_BAM!_

“We almost had it! We almost had it, you fucker!”

_WHAM!_

Pain erupted in Rick’s face, the feeling of warm blood oozing down his eye and cheek bringing him back to true consciousness.

“Fu….fuck you, lady,” he spat out, her blurry form slowly beginning to sharpen. He knew he had pissed her off big time, and was glad he had done so. He may have sacrificed himself for his grandchildren, but he was not about to allow the Federation to win.

 _WHAM!_ Rick’s face erupted in pain again, his head flying back, his brain swimming between unconsciousness and consciousness. Red blood oozed from his nose.

“You really think you can keep messing around with the Federation, Sanchez? If I don’t get what I want from you, I _will_ kill you! Do you hear me? I said, Sanchez, _do you hear me?!”_

Rick opened one eye and smirked. “Loud and clear.”

The woman stood up straight, anger dancing like fire in her purple eyes as she glared at Rick. After a moment of intense silence, she shifted her hard gaze to the two Federation workers holding Rick’s arms down.

“Teach him a lesson, will you? Just don’t kill him; I would continue to do it, but I’m worried that I may end up murdering him myself,” she ordered before storming out of the room, the door closing sleekly behind her.

Rick knew exactly where this was going. They were going to rough him up until he was on the brink of dying before sending him back to hang on his prison wall, in order to “teach him a lesson”, as the woman had put it. Rick let out a snort; he didn’t need to be taught anything. He was too tired of all this bullshit.

The two Gromflomite officers turned to face Rick, and proceeded to take turns punching him in his face and gut, until finally one punch knocked Rick and the chair he was sitting in toppling over, sending both clattering to the ground. Rick gasped, trying to get air back into his lungs.

The two officers quickly surrounded Rick, knocking the discarded chair off to the side, and kicked Rick one, two, three, four times in the ribs. As he lay on his side, wheezing and grunting in pain, cheek pushed up against the cool metal floor, Rick saw an incredible opportunity arise right in front of him.

The chair that had been tossed aside by the Gromflomites had dropped two nuts. In the five seconds or so between him seeing the nuts and the next swift kick in the side, Rick had formulated a plan, one that he knew he only had one opportunity to execute successfully.

Rick reached a shaky hand out and clasped his fingers around the two nuts before quickly retracting his arm back under his body. _WHAM!_  

After they finished their manic attack on him, the Gromflomites roughly grabbed Rick by the forearms and forced him back into the restraints of his prison wall. As soon as the manacles clicked and the officers sent the wall away, Rick let out a sigh of satisfaction, the two loose nuts he had found lying on the floor being held comfortably in his sweaty palm.  

**A/N: Sorry this chapter's a little shorter. I had trouble with certain aspects of it, but I think it turned out alright. Let me know what you think in a comment/review!!!**


	12. Chapter 12

**Chapter 12**

Summer and Morty landed on the other side, tripping over the large amount of inventions that they had successfully pilfered from the Federation storage facility.

                “You did it.”

                Morty looked up as he got to his feet. Adalric was standing above him and Summer, a huge grin on his face. “You actually did it.”

                “Y-yeah, we did, didn’t we Summer?!” Morty said, turning to his sister, a shocked expression on his face. Summer looked back at him, a proud glint in her eye.

                “Yeah, we did.” She let out a short laugh, relieving the tension she had been holding in her body. “Yeah, we _did!_ Morty, we, like, just broke into a Federation building and _stole_ Grandpa Rick’s stuff back! Oh, man, if they catch us, we’ll be in _so_ much trouble with them, but it feels totally worth it!” She gently put a hand on Morty’s shoulder. “We’re one step closer to rescuing him.”

                Morty smiled. Summer dropped her hand as he turned to Adalric. “Would you mind if we, um, if we put this stuff in your workplace?” Morty said, waving his hands over the pile of inventions.

                “Yes, of course,” Adalric said, picking up a few devices in his arms.

                With Adalric’s help, they managed to transfer all of the inventions to his well-lit workplace, carefully placing everything that they could on the workbench or floor.

                “What do we do now?” Morty said as he set the blue Meeseeks box on the workbench. He was still in a slight state of disbelief over how quickly and easily Summer and he had retrieved Rick’s items; he had been expecting some type of fight, some type of situation to arise that would have thrown off their plan. He was thankful for the relative ease of the trip, and he was still flying high on the adrenaline that pumped through his system after the success. He wanted to keep going, to continue this sense of productivity.

                “I’d suggest that you reconvene with the council,” Adalric said. “Maybe search through your grandfather’s things, see if anything will be of use, come up with a plan, and talk to the council, see if they’ll help you more. With the success that you just had, though, I think they’ll be willing to give you more assistance. You two seem to be very lucky.”

                Summer nodded her head in agreement, a finger tapping her lips while she thought. “That sounds good, Adalric. Morty,” She said, turning her attention to her brother. “What do we got here? You’re more familiar with Rick’s inventions than I am.”

                Morty turned to the conglomeration of inventions and tools, his eyes sweeping over each and every one. As he made mental notes of the inventory, memories of his adventures with Rick began to flood over him, beginning to overwhelm him.

                He took a deep breath, forcing the memories down, forcing them away from his mind’s forefront.

                His eyes landed back on the Meeseeks box. _Yeah,_ he thought to himself. _That could work._ Morty looked back at Summer. “The Meeseeks box. That’s w-what’ll be the most useful to us, I think.”

                Summer hit her forehead with the palm of her hand. “Duh! Why didn’t I think of that?” Summer smiled and picked up the firm box, remembering fondly how she had used the Meeseeks box herself to become more popular at school. “They definitely know how to get a job done. We can ask them to, I dunno…” She thought for a moment. What _could_ they use the Meeseeks box for? “Maybe we could have them break in and get Rick out? Just, like, let the Meeseeks do the actual grunt work?”

                Morty nodded. “Yeah, that could work. W-we could tell them to figure out a way to break into the federation prison and get Rick out of there alive, if…if he still is,” Morty hesitantly added.

                “We should probably go to the council,” Summer said as she flicked dust off of the Meeseeks box.

                As the siblings made their way across the city to the council chambers (Adalric had elected to stay in his workshop), Summer thought about the exact logistics of not only how they would break Rick out, but how they would find him and deal with him after. They didn’t even have the coordinates as to where the top-secret Federation prison was. The familiar feeling of despair was creeping in at the sides of her mind. What were they going to do? They couldn’t tell the Meeseeks to just go and find the prison—the galaxy was far too big, and they didn’t have that kind of time. What she really wanted was to return home, to go back to Earth; but, she knew that that would be practically impossible with the Federation consistently looming over her home planet.

                She thought about her parents. Summer considered taking the portal gun and having her parents return with her back to Meria and live on the rebel base with her, Rick, and her brother, but she couldn’t figure out how her parents may handle the situation. Would they want to return with her and her brother? Once they knew that they had been alive this whole time, would they want Summer and Morty to live back on Earth with them?

                Summer knew the answer. She knew that she and Morty couldn’t go back to Earth, as long as the Federation was residing there. She looked around at the tall, Earth-like buildings, and took in the purpling evening sky with its two moons. It had been a few months of them living here, and she was already used to it and its atmosphere. It felt _familiar_ , now.

                And yet, a part of her panged for home.

                She was broken out of her trance as she and Morty walked up the steps to the council chambers. They needed to discuss what measures to take next with the councilmembers.

                Morty knocked three times on the huge metal door before they entered the chamber. They were greeted with courteous nods by the seven councilmen ( _Councilaliens?_ Morty thought to himself). The siblings made their way to the center of the room, their shoes _click clacking_ together against the wooden floor.

                “Well?” Said one of the members.

                Summer cleared her throat. “We were successful in retrieving Rick’s inventions,” she said in a stately voice. Morty felt a small bubble of pride well up in his chest; his sister was one of the most mature teenagers he knew. “Now, we need your help to come up with an actual plan to retrieve him.”

                Another councilmember leaned back in his chair, two of his four hands behind his head. “And how do you plan to do that? You don’t even know where the Federation prison is!”

                A look of annoyance passed over Summer’s face. “That’s why we came to you. Again.”

                A thought suddenly struck Morty. He turned to his sister, his voice lowered. “W-wait, Summer…do you still have your phone?”

                Summer glanced at the murmuring councilmembers before nodding, patting her phone’s bulge in her pocket. “Yeah. I had Adalric make me a charger for it,” she explained at Morty’s surprised look.

                “Do you still have the picture of Rick’s mugshot? Y’know, when we had first found out he was in prison?”

                A look of realization came over Summer’s face. “Oh, my God- yes! Morty, yes!” She whipped out her phone and began scrolling through her pictures. She tapped on the photo of Rick’s mugshot on the billboard, his familiar, haggard face appearing on her phone screen. He held up a board which had the numbers “00-8923-137” printed on its front.

                “Wait, councilmembers! These numbers are the numbers that Rick was holding up in his mugshot—00-8923-137. Do they mean anything to you?” Summer asked, urgency weaved in her voice.

                The councilmembers murmured amongst themselves quickly before one stood up, looking at Summer and Morty. “Good Gathanoop, yes! The number after 00—number 892—indicates the system that the prison is in, and the number three represents the planet within the system. For example, the planet we are currently on, Meria, is located within System 893, and is planet number seven. Of course, the Federation is unaware of Meria’s existence because of our advanced cloaking mechanism, but that’s beside the point.

                “Rick Sanchez is located within System 892, on Planet 3. That’s the system right beside us.”

                Morty’s heart swelled. They knew where Rick was! He pursed his lips, trying not to smile too wide.

                Summer grinned. “Sweet! So, now, like, we have to be able to break him out. Morty and I were thinking that we could use a Meeseeks box—”

                “Where in the _galaxy_ do you think you will find a Meeseeks box? Those are so rare and so expensive that it’s pointless to even consider—”

                Summer interrupted the councilmember. “Rick has one, and we currently have it with us.”

                The councilmembers gaped. “That man will never cease to amaze me,” said one.

                “Anyways,” Summer continued, “we were thinking that we could use the Meeseeks box to tell them to break into the Federation and break Rick out.”

                The councilmembers nodded, and murmured amongst themselves once again. They reminded Morty of a flock of pestering birds.

                “Yes, that sounds reasonable. We are also willing to send our ship fighter pilots out to the prison in case of some type of space combat,” said one of the councilmembers.

                “What if we used some of the Meeseeks to fly some of the ships? Tell them to fight any Glomflomite ship officers that come out of the prison?” said Morty.

                One of the councilmembers shook his head, his tentacles wooshing around his forehead. “No, our pilots should be enough. I highly doubt that there will be any sort of battle if Sanchez is retrieved quickly and quietly, but we shall send six of our pilots to wait if anything goes wrong.”

                “I want to go.”

                Everyone’s eyes landed on Morty.

                Eyebrows furrowed in concern, Summer looked at him the hardest. “Morty—”

                “I’m serious Summer,” he said, cutting her off. “I want to be there, I-I want to be in one of the ships.”

                A few beats passed before a councilmember spoke. “It’s much too dangerous, Morty Smith. If any type of battle ensues, even though our pilots are highly trained, there is still a chance that you could possibly be killed or—”

                “Are you kidding me?” Morty barked out a laugh. “I’ve flown with Rick so many times in so many dogfights that I’m not even scared.” He looked at Summer. “I flew with Summer, too, and we didn’t die. She’s an amazing pilot.”

                Summer looked at him with an exasperated look. “We crash-landed, Morty!”

                “But we lived because of how you dealt with it!” Morty shot back. He turned back to the council. “I-I think I should be there when we get Rick back. I’m his grandson.”

                The councilmembers looked at each other before murmuring amongst themselves.

                One of the councilmembers stood up again. “Alright. We will permit you to sit in one of the ships. However, you won’t be with any of our pilots. Instead, your sister will pilot, and you two will be located on the outer atmosphere of the planet—the farthest away from any potential battle.”

                Morty nodded in agreement. “Alright, that sounds fair. Summer, what’d you think?”

                Summer pursed her lips, clearly unsure, but she seemed to have come to a conclusion. “Okay I’ll fly,” she agreed.

                “Fantastic. The pilots will be leaving at 7:00 AM sharp. Meet them in the main center of the city, where all the hangars are, and they’ll direct you to your ship. Have your Meeseeks ready,” the councilmember added.

                “Thank you,” Summer and Morty said together before turning on their heel and leaving the chamber.

                As soon as they stepped onto the concrete steps outside of the building, the siblings screamed and wrapped their arms around each other, practically floating with elation.

                “We’re going to get our grandpa back!” Summer shouted into the night sky, squeezing her brother tight.

                They finished their excited hugging and made their way back to their room where they had been staying for the past months, talking quickly of the next day and how eager they were to see their grandfather again. The siblings exchanged memories of Rick, laughing over the memory parasites. The night seemed to be a little bit more pleasant, a little bit warmer, as if summer was in the air.

                “Even though he’s a total asshole, I do miss him a lot,” Summer said.

                “Me too. We’ll get him back tomorrow!” Morty exclaimed, as they entered their room.

                Morty could barely sleep for how excited and nervous he was for the next day. Would they find Rick? Would he even be alive? What would Rick say when they finally saw each other again, after a year of no communication whatsoever, of unsureness of each other’s wellbeing?

                Morty tried to let the thoughts go, and quickly found himself sinking into a deep, dreamless sleep.

!

                “Wake up! It’s 6:50, we gotta go if we wanna go rescue Grandpa Rick!”

                Morty blearily opened his eyes, seeing Summer and her ginger hair hovering above him, hurriedly shaking him awake.

                “I’m up, I’m up!” He sat up quickly and pulled on his clothes as fast as he could while Summer impatiently tapped her foot, her arms folded.

                The siblings half-ran to the center of the city, where the ships were located, and where the pilots were meeting. They entered the large square, seeing about twelve pilots dressed in blue flying uniforms running about.

                “Ah, Summer, Morty, there you are!”

                Morty and Summer turned around only to see Squanchy.

                “Squanchy! Are you flying?!” Morty asked the cat-like creature.

                He laughed. “No squanchin’ way! I’m only here to get you on your ship! Follow me.” He turned on his heel and made his way to one of the hangars, the Smith siblings following closely behind him.

                “Well, here’s your ride,” Squanchy said, grinning as he motioned towards the spaceship.

                Morty gaped. “You’re kidding.”

                Summer grinned. “Grandpa’s going to kill me when he sees that _I’m_ flying his ship.”


	13. Chapter 13

Rick knew he had been lucky when he had grabbed those nuts from the chair. His intuition had told him that the chair was made from rhudion, a type of rare metal found in deep space whose properties made it so magnetic that it could reverse the magnetic poles of planets, if used in excessive quantity. Why the Federation was using rhudion for prison furniture, he had no idea, but, quite frankly, he didn’t care. What he did care about, however, was the fact that his constraints clicked together only by magnetic force.

                Rick hung on his prison wall, his shoulder now reduced to a dull throbbing, the two rhudion nuts still in his palm.

Rick eyed the two Gromflomite guards carrying large plasma weapons as they sauntered past him. He could tell from their body language that they were tired, bored, and waiting for their shift change.

_Alright fuckers,_ Rick thought as he tensely circled the nuts in his palm. _I’m gettin’ this show on the road._

As soon as the Gromflomites had turned the corner, Rick carefully but swiftly palmed one of the nuts up towards his wrist cuffs, massaging it with his fingers to move it upwards. As soon as he was able to, he pushed the nut against the constraint, pursing his lips in concentration.

What felt like a lifetime passed by, but in reality was a mere few moments, before Rick felt the wrist constraint begin to jiggle.

_Pop!_

Excitement immediately rushed its way through Rick as he lifted his hand to his face in his moment of triumph. However, he didn’t waste time reveling in his own genius—using the nuts and his free hand, he swiftly released his neck, other wrist, and feet constraints.

Rick fell to the hard ground, and in a rare moment of terror, he couldn’t find his legs beneath him. It had been months-a year, maybe? - since he had properly used any of his muscles. Rick could feel his old body failing him, and he cursed at it as he shakily got to his feet.

                “Sanchez?”

                Rick looked up, his eyes narrowed in frustration. “ _What?!”_ He hissed at the slug-like prisoner who had been held next to him this entire time.

                “Where you goin’? You breakin’ out, makin’ a run fo’ it?”

                “No shit, Sherlock. And keep your voice down! I’m getting the fuck outta here,” Rick said, exasperated. He spun around, looking for a sign that would direct him towards the ship hangars.

                The prisoner looked away, silent for a moment. “Good luck, Sanchez. I’ll miss your mutterin’.” He added, as if an afterthought. “You never took no shit from them Feds, and I respect you fo’ it.”

                Rick’s eyes flickered towards the constraints holding the prisoner, rubbing the nuts in his palm. A sting of guilt suddenly manifested in his chest, as if a bee had stung him. “Do you want out? Yes or no- you have three seconds before I’m leaving,” he growled, mentally cursing himself for wasting time when he could have already been running.

                The prisoner let out a small but mighty deep laugh. “Nah, I’m good ‘ere. Don’ wanna get caught up in whateva’ crimes you get yourself into.”

                Rick rolled his eyes but grinned. “Alright. If the Feds ask which way I went, send them in the opposite direction for me, would’ya?”

                “Will do. Good luck,” the prisoner repeated.

                With nothing left to say, Rick took off running down one of the middle hallways, following the signs that pointed in the direction of the hangar. In a perfect world (or in a different dimension, where he’s luckier), he would be able to make it to the hangar without running into a single guard. Unfortunately, Rick knew he did not live in that world nor dimension.

                However, he knew he was luckier than another version of himself. Instead of running into ten, fifteen, or even twenty guards, as he had anticipated, Rick saw only two. He darted to the side, out of their sightline. Rick realized that the two Gromflomites were the same ones from earlier.

                One halted. “Hey, you hear that?” He said suspiciously, tapping his buddy with the gun.

                They looked down the hallway, eyes searching. Rick covered his mouth, trying to quiet his heavy breathing. _Fucking hell, I’m old_ and _out of shape…_

                “Nah, man, you’re seein’ things. C’mon,” the other said dismissively. “Let’s finish up our rounds. My wife is makin’ wishashop tonight, wanna come over and have dinner with my family? I know things have been hard for you since your girlfriend cheated on you and dumped you for that other dude.” The two Gromflomites began walking down the hallway, unknowingly towards Rick.

                _Fucking hell._ Frustration overcame him. He knew he was going to have to ambush the guards and make a run for it.

                “Oh yeah, man, thanks for the offer! I really appreciate it. Yeah, things have been--HEY!”

                _WHAM!_

Rick struck the guard hard in the face with his fist, knocking him out. Rick took advantage of the moment of surprise of both officers, quickly yanking the gun out of the guard’s hands as he fell.

                The other guard shook himself out of his shock and raised his gun. “DROP THE WEAPON!”

                Rick cocked the gun, aiming at the guard. “No can-do, buddy.” 

                _BAM!_ The guard fell over besides his companion, black blood pouring out of the abdominal gunshot that Rick had inflicted upon him.

                Holding the gun close to his chest, Rick took off running, his whole body pounding from the rush of adrenaline.

                Quite suddenly without warning, pain erupted from Rick’s abdomen as if a hot fire had been held up to his skin, forcing him to fall to the ground in anguish. “FUCK!” He yelled. He knew he had been shot by the goddamn guard. Rick lifted up his head and saw the guard lying on the floor, holding up his discarded weapon, having just clearly fired. A triumphant look, though laced with pain, emerged on the guard’s insectoid face.

                Through the flaming pain, Rick picked up his own gun that had fallen with him from his hand and fired at the guard, hitting him square in the head. His head flopped back down onto the ground.

                He knew he only had seconds to get out. Rick clumsily got to his feet again, blood gushing from his wound. He put his hand to the injury in an attempt to stem the bleeding, grunting in pain as he did so.

                Rick took off running again towards the hangars. He raced through the hallways, somehow never coming in contact with any other guards.

                Finally, he came upon the entrance to the hangar. Inputting a generic, simple number combination into the code reader, the door _clicked_ and he pushed his way through, wincing as another wave of pain hit him.

                He looked around in the giant hangar, Federation ships hanging in their respective spots, waiting to transport prisoners or travel to other planets to conquer them. Right across from him was the huge exit that the ships left through, with only a thin barrier, used to keep an atmosphere contained, separating the freedom of space from the confinement of prison.

                However, there were about fifteen guards inside the hangar too, meandering about. They all turned to look at him in surprise, taking in the bleeding, haggard, old human dressed in a dirty and bloody orange jumpsuit.

                A beat of silence passed before Rick moved, racing towards the closest Federation ship. With his weapon raised, Rick shot at the Gromflomites, who were shooting back at him as he ran.

                He threw open the door of the ship, flinging himself inside and slamming the laser-proof door shut. Breathing hard and mind racing, Rick quickly searched for the manual controls of the ship and fired it up.

                He jerked forward, not quite used to the controls, and flicked on the switches for the boosters. Raising a middle finger to the Gromflomites on the ground who were still shooting at him, Rick shouted out, yelling “bye, fuckers! See you—wait, _what?!”_

                As he looked at the scene below him, he realized that the Gromflomites had stopped shooting at him, and had started shooting at blue, humanoid aliens that were pouncing and attacking them.

                _Are those…Meeseeks?_

                Rick was dumbfounded. How the _hell_ did Meeseeks get here, of all places?

                _BAM!_

                Rick jumped, startled, as one of the Meeseeks suddenly threw itself on his windshield. “Hi, I’m Mr. Meeseeks, look at me!” It shouted. The Meeseeks looked Rick up and down. “Ooohh, you’re Rick Sanchez! Looks like you’re already free! Look at me!”

                And with that, the Meeseeks poofed away as if it had never been there at all.

                “What the fuck,” Rick said, bewildered for the first time in a long time. He shook it off, just grateful for the distraction the Meeseeks were providing. Hitting the thrusters, Rick sped out of the exit, through the barrier, finally free.

!

Morty and Summer had followed the rest of the rebel fighter pilots to the location of the prison, its large, looming figure eclipsed by a sun as they approached.

Summer expertly maneuvered Rick’s ship, silently following the rebel fighters. She drummed her fingers on the steering wheel, nervous. They had already sent the Meeseeks into the prison, and she desperately hoped that they were able to do their jobs.

“I can’t believe Rick’s in there,” Morty murmured quietly.

“Me too,” Summer replied. “This is going to sound bad, but- I hope he’s still alive. Because if he’s dead—”

Morty folded his arms. “Then this will have been for nothing, yeah, Summer, I know. But I-I’m confident Rick’s still alive. I mean, he’s _Rick.”_

Summer nodded, and drummed her fingers on the steering wheel.

“Z-12 to Smiths, over,” crackled the intercom.

Morty pressed the intercom button. “Smiths to Z-12, over. Where do you want us to, to stay? So we’re out of the way? Uh, over.”

“Stay above, so you can watch the action, if there is any action, but you won’t be in the action, over.”

Summer pulled the steering wheel towards her, sending Rick’s ship upwards above the rest of the small rebel fleet. Hovering way above, Morty and Summer looked down at the rebel ships and Federation prison, waiting.

Suddenly, from the east hangar, about fifteen Federation ships zoomed out to face the rebel fleet. They had clearly been aware of the rebel fleet’s presence, and, quite abruptly, a battle erupted. Morty’s stomach dropped, nervous. What if all these people died for nothing? What if Rick was dead, and they died for no reason?

After about ten minutes of watching the battle, something caught Morty’s eye. He turned his head towards the other hangar-- the west hangar. A Federation ship had just zoomed out of it and was now below them.

                “Shit, Summer-” Morty pointed to the Federation ship. “That one’s a little too close for comfort. What if it sees us?”

                Summer pursed her lips before looking at her brother. “Do you want to take it out?”

                His hand hovered in response over the red button which would release the ship’s plasma rays, his eyes focused on the threatening ship below.

“Alright, Morty, when you’re ready….aim, and— _WAIT!!”_

Morty recoiled back, his finger just about to press down on the trigger. He looked up at his sister, confusion clouding his eyes. Why did she stop him from firing?

                “Summer! Why—”

                “Morty--Morty, oh my _God-”_ Summer let out a disbelieving laugh. “It’s Grandpa Rick!”

                “ _What?!”_ Morty’s heart clenched so tightly in his chest that he thought it may burst.

                “In the ship! Grandpa Rick is in the Federation ship, he’s piloting it! He’s escaped!” Summer pointed excitedly at the Gromflomite ship, a huge grin on her face. “This is going to make it _way_ easier to rescue him!”

                Morty looked at the ship’s front. Sure enough, in the big front windshield, there was his grandfather and best friend. Morty could make out the wild bluish-gray hair of Rick. He grinned, his heart bursting with happiness.  

                “Quick, w-w-we gotta let the others know, we have to tell everyone else to not shoot that ship!” Morty fumbled around for the intercom before pressing the button. “Uh, everyone, this is the Smith pilots, we are telling you to _not_ shoot ship number…” Morty squinted at the Rick’s ship’s side, “77. I repeat, do _not_ shoot ship 77! Over.” Morty turned to his sister. “Summer, we gotta get him out. We need to tell him to follow us back to base!”

                Summer nodded frantically, looking over the control panels. The way her grandfather had designed them were mixed up and complicated, but she needed to find the switch that would move the transmission frequency from the rebel’s frequency to the frequency that Rick’s ship was on— _like changing a radio station,_ she thought in the back of her mind. “Ugh, if only there were a way to- wait, here it is!”

!

                Inside ship 77, Rick frantically searched for the radio transmission button, knowing he needed to quickly reroute it to be able to get on the intercom with the Freedom Fighters. He had been surprised by their arrival, but was thankful. However, the possibility of them mistakenly shooting him down worried him, and he was not about to open fire on his old comrades.

                “This piece of shit…Aha, here it is!” Rick fumbled with the wiring on the radio intercom, but was startled to hear a familiar feminine voice on the other line before he even had the chance to do or say anything.

                “Rick? Grandpa Rick? Are you there?!”

                Rick stared in shock at the intercom.

                _No fucking way._

He hesitantly pressed the green button. “Summer?”

                “YES!! Grandpa, oh thank God—Morty, stop it, here, I’ll let you talk to him but be fast—”

                Rick squinted at the ship looming above-- _holy hell, is that my ship?!_

Rick let out a bark of laughter. Sure enough, his grandkids were sitting in his ship made of trash, sitting in the pilot seats, the two of them visible in the ship’s windshield. “Holy shit! Summer, Morty, how the hell-”

                “RICK!” Morty’s high-pitched scream crackled over the radio, oozing with desperate happiness. “Oh man, am I happy to see you’re alive!”

                “Same to you, buddy, but t-this isn’t time for small-talk! What the hell is your plan? I got Gromflomite shitheads that will be on my tail soon if I don’t get the fuck outta here.” Rick winced as another wave of pain erupted from his abdomen, where he felt warm blood still oozing out between his fingers as he clamped it hard with his hand. “Fuck,” he muttered in a low voice.

                “Follow us back to the rebel base—it’s on Meria-”

                “Sounds good.” Rick looked back at the Federation jail, Gromflomite ships leaving it like bees taking flight from a beehive. “I’ll follow you, but we have to fucking get out of here _now.”_

“On it!”

                Rick watched carefully as his old ship his grandchildren were in turned around and quickly sped away from the action. Rick followed suit in the Federation ship, jumping to lightspeed behind Morty and Summer.

                He was finally, truly, _free._


	14. Chapter 14

Morty hadn’t seen his grandfather for an entire year. He watched him carefully as he stepped off of the Federation ship.

                Rick looked much worse than the last time Morty had seen him, back on that tiny planet. He had a haggard look to him; his bluish-gray hair was even more wild and unkempt, with his face bruised and laced with emotional and physical pain. Rick’s natural lankiness was now reduced to an unnatural bony state, as if he hadn’t eaten in weeks. His orange jumpsuit was stained with blood on the right shoulder and abdomen, where, Morty noticed, Rick held his hand tightly to a clearly fresh wound.

                And yet, even though his grandfather looked terrible, he still had that familiar wild glint in his eye.

                The rebel fleet had returned, and now about sixty or so rebels stood together, amassed in a circle around Rick, Morty, and Summer’s ships. Applause, whoops, and hollers erupted as Rick staggered out of the Federation ship.

                Morty and Summer ran to him, taking quick steps before throwing their arms around their grandfather.

                Rick laid a light hand on both of them while his other hand held tight to his wound. “Yeah, yeah, it’s great to see you too, family reunion, blah blah blah, but I _really_ need a drink.”

                Neither Summer nor Morty could keep tears from sliding down their cheeks. They had both fought so hard to get their grandfather back, and here he was. Morty felt compelled to say something, yet he couldn’t come up with the words. He had waited a whole year, and yet his brain was failing him. 

His sister, on the other hand, was able to coherently put her thoughts into words. “Grandpa Rick, we’ve missed you so much, you wouldn’t even _believe_ what we’ve been through—” Summer began, though her eyes slid down to Rick’s tightly pressed hand, stained with blood. “But, oh my God, you need a doctor—”

                Rick waved her off, though a short wave of lightheadedness and pain hit him. “I-it’s fine, Summer, shit—Adalric? Is that you?” The broad-shouldered image of a lizard-like humanoid creature came sauntering up to the trio.

                “Sanchez…it’s nice to see you, man.” Adalric clapped a firm hand on Rick’s back, though his eyebrows furrowed in concern. “Damn, the Fed’s get you?”

                Rick let out a cynical laugh. “Yep. Lucky they didn’t kill me.”

                Adalric nodded. “Can’t wait to hear the whole story of how you got out. It’s never been done before, but I guess you’ve done a lot of things that have never been done before, eh?” He looked back down at Rick’s wound. “I’ll go get Dr. Zenon. He still has-”

                “Wait, Dr. Z is still alive?!” Rick said in surprise. “Damn! Yeah, just tell him to bring the healing antidote shit I made for him, years back.” Rick gently pulled his hand away from his wound as another pulsation of blood oozed out. “Fuck,” he murmured, putting a hand on Morty’s shoulder for balance as Adalric sauntered away in search of Dr. Zenon.

                “Rick,” Morty began, “i-it’s…I’m sure glad you’re alive.”

                “Yeah, me too buddy,” Rick said shortly, not looking at his grandson. “Let me just tell you both that intergalactic prison sucks real, real bad. Like, unbelievably bad. You don’t want to get yourselves caught up in there.” Rick warned them both.

                Adalric quickly came back, Dr. Zenon skittering behind him as he sought to keep up with the much larger creature.

                “Sanchez, you don’t know how _great_ it is to see you alive!” Dr. Zenon said as he came up to them, hands holding the purplish-liquid and a dropper.

                “Same to you, Dr. Z. Here, I can do it,” Rick said refusing Dr. Zenon’s offer and instead deciding to treat himself. Taking the dropper, Rick squeezed three drops of the liquid onto the open wound, hissing as the hot pain sizzled on the injury. “There,” he said through clenched teeth. “Now _,_ I’m going to go find out where you guys keep the—SQUANCHY?!”

                “RICK SANCHEZ!” The cat-like creature darted towards Rick, jumping on top of him in an embracing brotherly hug. “Man, it has been squanchin’ too long! You don’t look so hot!”

                Rick laughed. “Look who’s talkin’, you ugly cat.”

                Ignoring the jest, Squanchy jumped off of Rick and back onto the ground, looking up at Rick, Morty, and Summer, smiling. “I knew you’d get out, one way or another.”

                “I had it under control. I was never planning on staying there for long.” Rick let out a short sigh through his nose. He felt his fingers instinctually twitch for his flask, though he knew that he didn’t have one on him. He regretted not searching for his stuff after he escaped; he had had his flask (and other small inventions) in his labcoat, but now it was gone in Federation custody, as it had been for the past year. His throat itched for alcohol and food. “Alright, someone show me where I can get a drink, or I’m going to go batshit crazy.”

                Adalric laughed. “Here, everyone, let’s go to the tavern.”

                Rick, Squanchy, Adalric, Morty, and Summer walked together over to the local tavern, though Morty refused the alcohol and asked only for water.

                The group spent the next few hours in rejoice over Rick’s escape and their rescue of him. Morty and Summer told their story, of how they had crash-landed on the desert planet before running into Adalric, who took them to Meria, and how Morty had found Rick’s first portal gun.

Rick laughed. “Oh shit! That old thing?! Man, I haven’t seen that in years! Didn’t even know it would still work.” Rick pondered for a moment, memories flashing through his mind. “Yeah, that was a total prototype. First one I made that actually worked.” He grinned. “It only worked because I was a total dumbass before I finally did the equation right. Heh.” An image of Bird Person flashed through Rick’s mind before he pushed it away.

With a drink in his hand and his mind painlessly numb (how long had it been since he had been properly and mercilessly drunk?), Rick felt himself relax enough to tell the story of his great escape from Federation prison, though he omitted the points about the Federation woman and the pain she had put him through. Rick’s hand clenched tighter around his drink at the thought of her.

                “So you’re telling me that they didn’t try and get information out of you?” Adalric asked.

                “Wha-EUGH-t I’m telling you is that there’s no fucking w-EUGH-way I would have told them jack shit,” Rick drunkenly retorted, slamming his fist down on the table. “I had the who-o-o-le thing under control.”

                “Mhm,” Adalric responded with an air of amused incredulity.

                “You know, Grandpa Rick, without us, you probably would have been killed,” Summer said with crossed arms and a raised eyebrow.

                “Summer, your need for recognition and acceptance is getting annoying.” He took another sip. “But, uh—nice flying with my ship. But I don’t ever want to see you piloting my ship again.”

                Summer smirked.

Rick downed the rest of his drink, suddenly feeling the need to be alone. He got to his feet, wiping his mouth with the back of his hand. “This has been fun n’ all, but I gotta hit the hay. You got a bed around here I can use?” He said, turning to Adalric.

“I think there’s a spare room across from your grandchildren’s room, in the bunker building,” Adalric said.

Morty and Summer stood up too, standing on either side of their grandfather. Saying their goodbyes, the trio made the short trek to the bunkers, where Morty and Summer had been staying for the past— _how long had it been?,_ Morty wondered to himself, the thought of his parents crossing his mind.

The trio bade each other a goodnight before dispersing, Morty and Summer going into their room and Rick going into his. Finding a spare white shirt and brown pants in his room, Rick peeled the orange jumpsuit off of his body, finally free of it after a year. He stood, naked, feeling the rough fabric between his fingers, staring with a furrowed brow at the bloodstains that caked it. He moved his gaze to the stitched name on the jumpsuit.

_RICK SANCHEZ._

                Rick tossed the jumpsuit into the corner, determined to burn it tomorrow. Through the buzzed haze of alcohol, Rick stumbled into clothes and collapsed on the bed, rolling onto his back.

                Though his body ached and his brain was tired, he could not find the willpower to close his eyes. He lay, staring up at the dark ceiling, thoughts worming their way through his mind. He was extremely happy to see his grandchildren alive and well, and he was thoroughly impressed with how they had managed to find him; he had gone most of the time in jail believing that they were dead. And yet, he and Morty had barely spoken. Was Morty still angry at him for leaving? _I wouldn’t blame him,_ Rick thought uncomfortably. He had found it hard to even look his grandson in the eyes. _I did it for his wellbeing._ He shifted his body, trying to get more comfortable, to will himself into sleep. _You didn’t leave them forever, you came back._ _It’ll be fine, don’t think about it. Deal with it tomorrow. There probably isn’t even a problem, anyways._

                Even as his eyes closed, however, the wheels in Rick’s mind continued to turn. How would they get home, with the Federation swarming Earth?

                And Beth…

                Rick’s stomach churned in guilt, causing him to clench his eyes tightly. His daughter probably thought that she had lost not only her father, but also her son and daughter.

                _I have to figure out how to get us back home._

                Rick rolled over again and forced himself to push the thoughts out of his mind.

                !

                The morning greeted Rick with incessantly loud banging on his door.

                “Rick! Rick! Get up, y-y-you gotta get up!”

                Through the haze of a hangover, Rick blearily opened his eyes, wary of the light. His head hurt like a bitch. 

                As his mind woke up, however, and the banging and yelling on the door continued, Rick recognized Morty’s voice, though fear rang behind his words. Something was wrong.

                Rick threw off the covers and stood up, rubbing his eyes as he made his way over to the door, willing the headache to go away. He opened the door, facing his grandson. “ _What,_ Morty?”

                “Rick—t-they’ve come, they’re destroying—” Morty kept turning around, pointing towards the window across the hall.

                Rick pushed past Morty and ran to the window in the hallway, peering outside. His stomach dropped.

                “Holy shit.”

                Outside, about fifteen huge Federation ships were spread throughout the sky and ground. Civilians were screaming, running from Gromflomites that aimed for them with their large plasma guns. Many buildings had been burned down from the laser shots fired from the ships; rebel fighters were running for the hangars, trying to get into their ships so they could fight back against the Gromflomites. Other rebels on the ground fired back with their own guns, taking down some of the Gromflomites, though it was clear that the Federation was winning. Widespread panic had taken over the city.

                Rage ripped through Rick. “Those fuckers! They must have followed the ship I stole— _FUCK!_ ” Rick screamed in anguish. How could he have been so stupid as to not turn off the ship tracking device on the Federation ship?

                Morty stood beside him, nervously wringing his hands. “What do we-”

                Rick cut him off. He turned around, pacing. “Morty, where’s your sister?”

                “She’s in our room-”

                “Okay, good.” Rick took a deep breath. “W-w-where’s my prototype portal gun?”

                “In our room. Want me to go get it?”

                Rick nodded, rubbing his temples. Morty darted into the room and pulled the portal gun off of the dresser, handing it to Rick as he ran back, Summer accompanying him.

                A small part of him laughed at himself for the clumsy handiwork he had done on the portal gun when he was younger. He fired up the portal gun, keeping an eye on the outside. “Okay you two, I’m going to put in our home coordinates, and you two are going to jump through and go home. Got it?”

                “Hell no! Grandpa Rick, we’re staying with you,” Summer protested. They had just gotten their grandpa back—they were not about to allow him to leave them again.

                “Yeah, Rick- we aren’t going anywhere without you!” Morty stated, standing with his sister in solidarity.

                “You idiots, they’re here for me, if they know you’re alive—just go through the fucking portal!” Rick shouted, frustrated at their refusal.

                _BAM!_ A sudden and loud force threw the trio back—the sound of rubble crumbling around him—his body felt so _heavy_ ….

                Rick lifted up his head, a loud ringing in his ears. He groaned in pain as he looked around the rubble. A huge hole had just been blown in the wall beside where they had just been standing. Understanding clicked into place; the Feds had blown up the building with their ships.

 “M...Morty! Summer!” He shouted, forcing himself to sit up.

Silence.

“Where the _fuck_ are you?!” Rick shouted again. “God dammit, God _dammit!”_

“Eugh…” Morty’s grunt of pain hit Rick’s ears. He stood up, eyes searching for a sign of his grandchildren.

“Morty!” Rick made his way over to his grandson, who was sitting up, rubbing his head. A trickle of blood dribbled down the side of his temple.

“Rick…Rick!” Morty looked around, suddenly alert as fear gripped his heart. “Where’s Summer? Summer!”

Rick swiveled his head, desperation gripping his heart. “There!” He shouted, spotting Summer lying a few feet away, covered in dust and debris. His granddaughter wasn’t moving. _She can’t be…_

He pulled Morty to his feet; the two of them made their way over to Summer, stepping over rubble and large chunks of glass.

“Morty, help me move her!”

Rick and Morty pushed off the large pieces of debris that lay on top of Summer, though she still lay unmoving.

“Summer!” Morty shouted, putting his hands on her shoulders. “Summer!”

Rick watched Summer’s chest, holding his breath—was she breathing?

A few moments passed before Rick saw her chest move. The tight knot that had built up in his chest loosened a bit, and he sighed in relief. “Morty, she’s alive.” He looked out through the large hole that had been blown in the wall, seeing Gromflomites and rebels alike running around, shooting at each other. “Help me get her up.”

At his words, however, Summer coughed, sitting up suddenly, her eyes wide open as she looked between Rick and Morty. “What…”

“Gromflomites blew us up. Here, get up, we gotta move,” Rick said, grabbing Summer by the hand and pulling her to her feet.

“Rick, shouldn’t we let her—” Morty began.

“Morty, do you want to be fucked, or do you want to live? If you want to live, we gotta go right _now!”_ Rick snapped, glancing over Summer. She seemed to have some cuts and bruises, but nothing serious. He quietly thanked a God he didn’t believe in that none of them had any serious injuries. Rick scooped up his portal gun off of the ground, which had thankfully not been broken in the blast.

Morty closed his mouth, brow furrowed in fear. He turned his attention to his sister. “You alright, Summer?”

Summer nodded.

Wordlessly, they closely followed behind Rick out through the blast hole, warily watching the ensuing battle in front of them.

Rick spotted low bushes about fifteen feet away. If they ran fast enough…“Morty, Summer, I want you two to go and hide behind those bushes. You see them, over there?” At their nods, Rick continued. “Go hide behind there, and _don’t come out.”_ At their wary glances, Rick’s tone became even harsher and more authoritarian than usual. “Fucking run and hide, you idiots! Unless you want to die!”

As soon as he saw that his grandchildren were safely hiding behind the bushes, Rick turned his attention to the battle.

He had an idea. An outlandish idea that may not even work if he didn’t’ get it right on the first time, but an idea nonetheless.

Turning on his portal gun, he thought hard about running into the center of it and being shot to death. If he did that, he would be free of all of this…

_No. You won’t be the one to die. Not you._

Taking a deep, shaky breath, Rick imputed certain coordinates into the portal gun and stepped through it.

Fear ripped through Morty and Summer.

“Did he just fucking leave us? Again?!” Summer murmured to Morty, anger laced in her voice.

Morty shook his head, though a part of him doubted himself. “N-no, I don’t think so…Summer, it’s Rick. He must have a plan.”


	15. Chapter 15

Rick emerged on the other side of the portal, the surroundings around him looking identical to the surroundings he had just left, except for one key difference.

It was ghastly quiet.

All gun firings had ceased; in the main center of the city, the Gromflomites and the rebels faced each other, though all eyes were focused on something on the ground between the enemies. A sense of shock and fear saturated the air.

Rick stood off to the side, out of anyone’s line of sight. He peered through the crowd, straining to see what they all saw.

There, lying dead in the center, was this dimension’s Rick Sanchez, shot to death by the Federation.

Rick readied himself. He had found exactly what he had come here for.

!

Back in their own dimension, Summer and Morty sat together, huddled fearfully on the underside of the large bushes. They had been lucky so far- Gromflomites and rebels alike had ran past them with laser shots flying, though no one seemed to notice two small human teenagers hiding. Rick had been gone for nearly fifteen minutes; doubt began to manifest in Morty’s chest that Rick was ever returning.

“Morty,” Summer said, eyes wide as Gromflomite feet darted past them, “I think we should try and find a different place to hide, this is too close—”

“No, Summer, w-we have to stay here! We gotta do what Rick told us to do,” Morty hissed back at her.

Summer pulled her knees into her chest, heart beating wildly in fear.

A familiar sound caused Morty to whip his head around— _was that a portal?_ When suddenly, everything became deathly quiet; the battle had stopped. The backdrop of laser firings and cries for help had ended. Morty and Summer lifted their heads just barely so they could see above the bushes into the main center of the city, where the most concentrated fighting and Federation ships were.

                The Gromflomites and rebels stood facing each other in a large circle. However, they were not focused on each other- instead, their eyes were locked onto the center of their circle.

                Fear gripped Morty’s heart- a part of him knew what had happened, a part of him didn’t want to believe it—against his own wishes, he stood up and peered into the middle of the crowd, holding his breath.

                There, in the center of the mass of Gromflomites and rebels, was the dead body of his grandfather, shot to death by the Federation.

                The whole world felt like it was spinning. _No, no no no no no…_ Morty instinctively grabbed his hair, ready to pull it out, ready to scream and cry and yell and beg for his grandfather to not be dead…

                Without even realizing that she had stood up beside him, Morty felt Summer’s tender hand grab his upper arm, steadying him. He looked at her, tears forming in her eyes, as she raised a single finger to her lips in silence. They both turned their gazes back to the scene in front of them.

                One of the Federation ship’s ramps slowly descended until it touched the ground. A humanoid silhouette emerged on the ramp. Its figure became clear as it descended down the ramp, high heels clicking sharply against the metal—it was an alien woman, her skin bluish, her eyes purple and sharp.

                Her eyes swept the crowd in front of her, her gaze judging and calculating before she focused on the dead body of Rick Sanchez.

                To his horror, Morty saw a small smile set itself on her lips.

                The Federation woman gracefully walked over to the body until she was standing right above it. With an almost pitiful gaze, she nudged his body with a single foot. “Dead,” she pronounced in a monotone voice, as if the death of the most wanted intergalactic terrorist had no effect on her. “Someone take the body.”

                Morty wanted to scream. He wanted to kill her. He _hated_ her. How dare she defile his grandfather’s body like that?

                As she turned around to get back on her ship, a familiar voice spoke up in the crowd, from the rebels’ side.

                “Please…” Adalric said, his baritone voice breaking. He had a nasty cut across his temple, blood dripping down the side of his head. The Federation turned around, an eyebrow cocked. “Please. You’ve got what you wanted, and enough people on both of our sides have died. Please, may I ask for peace?” His eyes flitted down to Rick’s body in the arms of a Gromflomite before darting back to her.

                The woman looked Aldaric up and down, pausing. “In exchange for the death of Rick Sanchez and a guarantee of peace and disbandment of this rebellion from _you_ , we shall not blow up your planet.”

                Adalric bowed his head. “You have my word.”

                “Good.” She turned back around and walked back up the long silver ramp of the ship, her high-heels clicking loudly against the ensuing silence. The Gromflomite carrying Rick’s body entered behind the woman as the ramp closed back up, sealing the ship.

                One by one, all of the Federation bureaucrats filed into their respective ships before taking their leave of the planet, zooming away into the atmosphere until their little black pinprick could no longer be seen against the backdrop of the purplish sky. As the last Federation ship left, the rebels began to disperse until only Summer and Morty were left, sitting alone, underneath the large bushes.

                Exhaustion suddenly overtook Morty. He needed to sleep, he needed to not think for a while; the image of his grandfather’s dead body lying in the center like that, his whole body limp, not a shred of life in it…

                The tears began to fall. Morty buried his head in his hands, gripping his hair tightly as a bubble of sorrow burst inside his chest. This feeling was nothing like how he felt when he had seen his own dead body; no, this pain was so much worse.

                Summer wrapped her arms around her brother, murmuring words that tried to comfort a grieving soul, but neither could she keep the tears from falling down her cheeks.

                Their grandfather was dead, and they had no idea what to do now.

                !

                Hiding beneath his ship, Rick watched through narrowed eyes as the Federation woman descended from her ship only to touch his other dimension’s self’s dead body with her foot, before returning back into the spaceship. He knew who she was, what role she played in the Federation; he had known since the beginning.

                _Disgusting,_ Rick thought. _She fucking touched me—well, him—with her gross-ass foot._

                A small bubble of guilt welled up inside Rick as he watched Adalric beg the woman for peace. _These people are all dead because of you, asshole._

_But your grandkids will get back home because of you, too._

Rick watched, patiently as a predator, as the Federation left the planet. He made a mental note of which ship the Federation woman was in—T2604 was what it read on the side—before sliding out from underneath his ship, unseen by anyone, and jumping into the driver’s seat.

                It had been a year or so since he had last driven his ship, and he had missed it dearly. He felt the steering wheel underneath his hands, the old leather familiar, before starting up the engine. Rick flicked a switch on the dashboard, engaging the ship’s cloaking device, before pursuing the Federation flock into space.

                Rick drummed his fingers on the steering wheel as he followed closely behind the Federation ships, slightly nervous, but mostly determined to get his revenge for what the Federation woman had done to him, his friends, and his family.

                After an hour or so of listlessly flying behind the Federation ships, they finally descended into the atmosphere of the planet that the prison was on, one by one landing on the large landing strip outside of the prison gates.

                Invisible to everyone, Rick landed beside the large ship that the Federation woman was in. He watched carefully as, one by one, the Gromflomites withdrew from the ships until he was certain that the Federation woman was the last one left. 

                _She thinks she’s so safe in her little ship all by herself, does she._ Rick pulled out a gun from underneath his seat, the metal cool in his slender fingers. He coyly stepped out of his ship, watching as she began to descend from the ramp.

                As soon as her left foot touched the ground, Rick ran up behind her, catching her by surprise, and clamped a hand over her mouth, dragging her as she fought against him back into the Federation ship.

                Rick spun her around, forcing her to face him, as he put his gun up to her head. She stared at him with wide, fearful, and disbelieving eyes; a look that didn’t suite her well.

“Yeah, surprised to see me alive, aren’t you? Guess what—I am smarter and will _always_ be smarter than you and your dumb Federation goons. I know who you are. I figured it out. You’re ‘President Sidera’,” he said in a mocking voice, “the fucking leader of the Federation. Now, I want something from you, or I’m going to kill you, do you understand?”

She nodded fearfully. Rick pushed the barrel of the gun harder against her temple. 

“Good. I want you to fucking remove the Federation from Planet Earth; you know, Planet 3-8 in Sector SJ1237? Yeah, that planet. I want you to tell every single last fucking Gromflomite to get the fuck out immediately, or I’m going to blow your brains out. Capisce?”

She nodded again, eyes flitting towards the gun against her head. She raised her wrist to her lips, eyes warily jumping between the gun and the hard lines on Rick’s face. Rick moved his hand so she could speak.

“Computer, send this message to the entire Federation.” She cleared her throat, putting on a commanding, calm voice which did not match the fear on her face. “I order Troop 349, in Sector SJ1237 on Planet 3-8 to abandon the planet immediately. I am executing Order 333905.”

She lowered her wrist. “There. Are you happy, Mr. Sanchez?”

Rick grinned. “Very.” He pushed her away, releasing her from his grasp. Without a second’s hesitation, Rick pulled the trigger.

Her scream was cut short as her body hit the ground with a somber _thud._

!

Rick landed his ship back on Meria in the center of the city, where the most action had occurred. He exited his ship, looking around, feeling satisfied for the first time in a while. Dismal people who were meandering about took notice of him, and began to shout and scream, exclaiming “he’s alive! Sanchez has done it again, he’s _alive!”_

Rick took no notice of them, however. He immediately made his way over to the bushes, taking long strides. Peeking his head around the bush, he saw his grandchildren, arms wrapped around each other in obvious sadness.

“Miss me?”

Morty and Summer’s heads whipped around immediately, seeing the face of their grandfather above them, grinning.

“Rick!” Morty shouted, and, without a second’s hesitation, both grandkids threw themselves into Rick, wrapping their arms around him.

“We thought you were dead! How did you—” Morty began.

“Whatever you’re asking, the answer is I’m amazing,” Rick said without hesitation, smiling. He gestured to his ship, it sitting perfectly in the center of the city, ready for the trio. “Now, who wants to go home?”


	16. Chapter 16

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Last chapter, everyone!

Rick, Morty, and Summer zoomed through the galaxy, set on course for Earth. They had said their proper goodbyes to their friends and allies, and at Summer’s insistence, even held a short but suitable memorial for Bird Person, to which many of the rebels had attended.

                They had thrown as many of Rick’s inventions as they could into the backseat with Summer. Rick had made sure to grab his prototype portal gun before they departed; he knew that he would want to create a new one before portalling back to Meria to grab the rest of his inventions.

                “Sanchez.”

Rick had turned around to see Adalric standing behind him. He rubbed the back of his neck, glancing around to make sure Morty nor Summer were nearby. “Hey. Thanks for everything, Adalric. Morty told me you saved their lives. I owe you one, man.”

Adalric laughed, shaking his head. “No, Sanchez. You owe me nothing. I don’t know what you did, but once again, you have made things right. I wish you safe travels, friend.”

Rick, Morty, and Summer had left shortly after, giving their warm goodbyes to everyone. Now, with the stars and planets racing past them, Earth was finally coming into view after their six hour travel.

Morty turned to his grandfather, suddenly nervous. None of them had spoken much. “Rick, the Federation’s still on Earth-- won’t they recognize us, or, or you?” Morty asked, eyebrows furrowed in worry.  Summer put her hand on Morty’s seat, leaning forward.

“You sure about that, Morty?” Rick cocked an eyebrow, a knowing smirk on his lips.

“What do you…?” Morty began, moving his gaze from Rick to the planet they were approaching. He recognized the deep-blue color of the ocean, the marble swirl of green and brown that constituted the landmasses. Morty thought back to the last time he had seen Earth from this perspective, when he and Summer had flown away in her pink spaceship, and he remembered thinking how beautiful Earth was, though Federation outposts and ships orbited it forebodingly.

Now, however, as Morty gazed at the plucky blue planet, he noticed that the Federation presence was lacking. The outposts that had surrounded the planet last time he saw it were gone, as if they had never been there. Earth looked, once again, as it had pre-occupation by the Federation.

“The Federation’s gone!” Summer exclaimed, grinning. “Grandpa Rick, how’d you pull that off?”

Rick shrugged, leaning an elbow against the armrest. “Don’t worry about it. I did what I needed to do.”

!

The trio landed in the empty driveway of the Smith family house. They stepped out of the ship, the summer evening air warm on their skin. Rick stood up and stretched, taking in the clean Earth air deep into his lungs.  The lawn was slightly overgrown, Rick noticed, as if it hadn’t been properly cared for in a while.

Morty and Summer ran up to the front door of their home, excited yet nervous. They looked at each other.

“You do it,” Summer said.

“No, you do it.”

Summer took a deep breath, laying her hand on the door handle. She pushed.

She was met with resistance from the door. It was locked.

She tried again. “Damn, they must not be home,” she said, disappointed.

“Wow, what gre-EUGH-at timing,” Rick said sarcastically, sticking his hands in his pockets. He looked back at the empty driveway. “Your parents must be out. Either of you got a key?”

Morty and Summer shook their heads.

“Shit. Okay, since we got nothing better to do, let’s drive around a little bit, try and see if we can find them.”

Morty, Summer, and Rick got back into the ship and drove down the streets, the summer sun still warmly shining in the evening.

Morty rolled down his window, enjoying the summer breeze on his face as they silently drove. Where were his parents? He couldn’t think of where they could have gone; he had been looking forward to seeing them, but had been bitterly disappointed by their absence…

“Wait! Stop!”

Rick swerved onto the curb, screeching to a halt, startled by Summer’s sudden outburst. He turned around, facing her. “Dammit Summer, _what_?!”

She had already unbuckled herself, about to jump out of the ship. “There they are!” She pointed to the cemetery they had halted next to; Rick and Morty followed her gaze, and sure enough, there stood Beth and Jerry in the distance, along with a good deal of people. She pushed her door open moving her body over the strewn inventions, bouncing on her feet as she exited. “Come on!”

Rick and Morty followed Summer as they entered the cemetery, running along the path through the gray headstones. Suddenly, Summer halted, causing Morty and Rick to almost crash into her.

Morty stumbled up beside her, watching their parents from a distance. Both of them were standing, facing a crowd of people. Morty recognized some, if not most, of the faces; his paternal grandparents, Mr. Goldenfold, Principal Vagina, some of his classmates, including Jessica... His mother seemed to be speaking while crying, though Morty could not hear the words. Everyone was dressed in formal black, as if at a funeral.

Rick barked out a laugh. “They think we’re dead! Oh man, they’re holding a funeral, the whole shebang…” He snorted, putting his hands on his hips, turning to his grandchildren. “I have an idea--how about we go crash our own funeral?”

Rick, Morty, and Summer quietly approached the memorial, standing off to the side. A pang of guilt hit Morty as he saw his mother’s tears while she spoke. There were three large flowered wreathes behind his parents, each of which had Morty, Summer, and Rick’s names wrapped around them in white cloth.

“…and I know many of you didn’t know my father all that well, but he was a great man. He was crazy and way too dedicated to his science, but both…both Summer and Morty loved him dearly. I-I just…Jerry, I don’t think I can do this—” Beth, tears filling her eyes once more, turned to the arms of her husband, her black dress swaying as she moved away from the faces of the crowd. She rested her chin on Jerry’s shoulder, looking off over the many headstones, trying to slow the tears. Suddenly, her heart dropped.

She stepped away from Jerry, causing him to turn around and stare in shock. “…Morty? Summer?”

“Mom! Dad!” Morty and Summer broke away from Rick and, in the presence of the gasping audience, threw themselves into the arms of their parents, fortuitously knocking over the wreathes.

Rick stuffed his hands into his pockets, standing a few feet off from the happy reunion. Beth released her children and faced her father.

“Dad,” she said, her voice tearful.

“Hey sweetie,” he said, grinning.

Beth ran the few strides and threw her arms around her father. “We were so certain that you and the kids were gone, that you were dead--we looked everywhere but the Federation stopped us from actually doing anything and we didn’t know what to do, but then the Federation just left and I…I’m just glad you’re here.” Beth sighed.

Rick lay a light hand on her shoulder. “Yeah, me too.”

                Beth looked at him. “There was a billboard that said that you had been captured…how did you escape?” She turned to Summer and Morty. “And what ever happened to you two? Morty, you look like you’ve grown a few inches—all of you have been missing for a year! What happened?”

                Morty looked at Summer, then Rick. “It’s a long story…”

                Rick grinned. “How about we all go home and relax with a little bit of Ball Fondlers? I’m a whole season behind, and would r-e-eally like to catch up.”

                Morty let out a laugh, a sense of happiness erupting like a burst balloon in his chest. He had missed this, and looked forward to the future adventures that Rick would no doubt drag him on in the middle of the night. “Sounds good.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And that's a wrap! I have immensely enjoyed writing this, it has been quite an adventure! I want to thank all of you for your continued commitment to this story. It has been such a wonderful ride! If you want to read more of my RaM works, head over to my FFNet, under the same username :) thank you everyone!!! <3


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